Your division chair, Tom Tiedje, attended a meeting of the CAP Council on Saturday March 23 in Ottawa. This meeting was followed by a special session in the evening designed to develop a CAP response to AECL's recently announced plan to phase out their support for the TASCC accelerator, neutron beam research at Chalk River, the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory and the fusion research program jointly funded by AECL, Hydro Quebec and INRS.
In response to a Federal Government decision to reduce the funding it provides to AECL over the next two years, the crown corporation has apparently decided to terminate most or all of its research programs that are not directly related to CANDU. Science is clearly taking a disproportionate share of these cutbacks. It appears that the remaining federal funding to AECL will go almost entirely to subsidizing the nuclear power industry.
Lest those of us employed by universities become complacent, everyone should be aware that the planned cuts in transfer payments to the provinces, could potentially have a very damaging effect on research infrastructure in the universities.
The CAP advises people who are concerned about science funding to communicate their concerns directly to the politicians, beginning with their local member of parliament. Further advice on how you can help can be obtained from the CAP, (which has moved to the University of Ottawa).
The CAP president, Paul Vincett, is working hard to communicate the CAP's concerns to the politicians and their staff people. Among other things the CAP is participating in a National Consortium of Scientific Societies that has been established to lobby the government on issues relating to science. Much of the Council meeting was devoted to a discussion of lobbying activities.
Another major undertaking on the part of the CAP is the review of academic physics, which is being carried out in preparation for the next NSERC reallocation. This undertaking will be guided by an oversight committee led by Bill Halperin of Northwestern University and will be funded by NSERC. The deadline for the review is April 1997, with a first draft to be completed by November 1996. Everyone in the Physics community is encouraged to provide input. Town Hall meetings have been organized for this purpose.
The CAP is studying the possibility of registering RP. Phys.S or RP. Sci.S (professional physicist/scientist) as a trademark and using this designation as a certification of professional qualifications along similar lines to the P. Eng. used by the engineers.
If you think these activities are worthwhile or if you think it is important to have strong national scientific organizations, please encourage your colleagues who are not members to join the CAP (or the CSC).