Canadian Nobel Prize-winning physicist encouraged by Ottawa's scientific mandate

The federal Liberal government's promise to embracescience and innovation is promising to a Canadian scientist who wasrecently awarded the Nobel Prize.

Arthur McDonald, the Sydney, N.S., native whowas the co-winner in physics for his work ontiny particles known as neutrinos, said Monday he's pleased withOttawa's commitment to public policies based on evidence, notpolitics.

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"I'm actually very encouraged by what I see of the mandate ofour new science minister, Kirsty Duncan," McDonald said in aninterview at Dalhousie University in Halifax, where the alumnus wasexpected to deliver a public lecture on his prize-winning research.

"Having this openness in the government itself and encouragementfor evidence-based decision-making ... I see a lot of good things inthe way in which this government is putting science and innovationforward."

McDonald and Japanese scientist Takaaki Kajita were cited for thediscovery of neutrino oscillations and their contributions toexperiments showing that neutrinos change identities.

They determined that neutrinos have mass, which fundamentallychanged the understanding of the laws of physics.

Mendingrelationship

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pledged to restore thegovernment's relationship with the scientific community, which wasstrained under Conservative predecessor Stephen Harper.

Duncan, who McDonald said attended the awarding of his NobelPrize last December in Stockholm, was appointed by Trudeau to createa chief science officer and ensure that government science ispublicly available.

She is also mandated to guarantee thatgovernment scientists can speak freely about their work and theiranalyses are considered in decision-making.

McDonald, a professor emeritus at Queen's University in Kingston,Ont., said while Canada has done very well in basic and appliedscience, the country needs to translate that success into Canadiancompanies doing more work on home soil.

He said that includes encouraging graduates to start businessesat home.

'You always need better technology'

"You also have to have situations where Canadian companiescollaborate with researchers who are at the cutting edge
demonstratively of their field in academic research in thedevelopment of better products to make that research possible," hesaid.

"When you're pushing the frontier, you always need bettertechnology."

The key is ensuring that technology doesn't go to waste by havingenough skilled researchers on hand to use it, said McDonald.

He applauded continued funding for the CanadaFoundation for Innovation, which invests in state-of-the artequipment for applied and basic research. However, he said basesupport for the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ofCanada has "almost flatlined" in recent years.

"If you have brand-new equipment and you don't have the people,the students or technicians or post-docs to be able to operate thatequipment and be able to take advantage of the really goodcapabilities that it has, then you're out of balance in terms ofreturn on investment," he said.