Christian Paradis Says OOPS! Of Course I Believe in Science

When the federal government cut funding to the largest astronomical observatory in eastern North America at Mont-Mégantic Observatory, near Sherbrooke, Quebec; the opposition parties did their jobs and opposed.

Still trying to win back favour in that province, Christian Paradis jumped in and restored the much needed funds. (Christian Paradis is on of the Conservative MPs involved in the "In and Out" scam, so we know he doesn't much believe in accountability either)

Ironically , there is some good coming out of the parliamentary crisis and continued threat to the Harper government.

Canadians are getting what they want simply because Harper and his gang don't want to lose their jobs.

However, I still worry about who's going to pay for all this, since recovery will be very slow once the recession is over. Flaherty still won't admit that cutting the GST was one of the most bone headed moves ever made by a finance minister, and Harper is huffing and puffing about not raising taxes.

I guess he has some magic wand we don't know about, because most Canadians realize that somewhere down the road our taxes are either going to have be raised or government spending will have to come to a halt. Flaherty was a personal injuries lawyer, the bottom of the food chain, and is ill equipped to handle an economy, let alone an economic crisis.

But for now, science in Canada won a small victory from a Party that clearly doesn't believe in science. Why else would they put Gary Goodyear in charge?

Observatory gets funding restored
Canwest News Service
April 16, 2009

A decision by the Conservative government to restore funding to the largest astronomical observatory in eastern North America received a qualified welcome from the Liberals on Wednesday.

The Mont-Mégantic Observatory, near Sherbrooke, Que., was facing cuts of $325,000 to its annual operating budget.

However, after complaints from the community and opposition MPs, the government of Prime Minister Stephen reversed the cuts on Wednesday. (Was this a Freudian slip? Others are referring to Harper as 'King Stephen', since he has put an end to democracy in this country, and now he is simply referred to as PM Stephen. Ha ha.)

Liberal MP Marc Garneau, a former astronaut and head of the Canadian Space Agency, approved of the restored funding, but said the cuts were indicative of the Conservatives' "inability to grasp the importance of these investments (in science and research)."

Before the cuts were reversed, Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe said the Conservatives were "attacking science."

Duceppe noted that MP Christian Paradis, Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Quebec lieutenant, had been informed of the cuts from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council even though the observatory was in his own riding of Mégantic-L'Erable.

The observatory is owned by Université de Montréal and Université Laval, and it has an annual budget of $1 million. It has had a role in developing new astronomy techniques and is considered this country's best telescope for training astronomers.

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