Thanks to David Bruggeman’s May 18, 2016 posting on his Pasco Phronesis blog for reminding me of the upcoming Canadian Science Policy Conference,

The 2016 Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC), the eighth such event, will return to the nation’s capital [Ottawa] from November 8-10.  This is the third year the Conference will take place in Ottawa, and the first time it has been held in the same city in consecutive years.  I attended the first conference in 2009, and the event has grown in size and stature every year since.  I’d encourage anyone interested in Canadian science policy, or even in how interested researchers and practitioners form and grow a community, to review previous conferences and consider attending the event.

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From a May 4, 2016 call for proposals (received via email), here are the conference themes and information about submitting ideas,

Here are CSPC 2016 Themes:

A New Culture of Policy Making and Evidence-Based Decision-Making: Horizons and Challenges

A New Innovation Agenda or Canada: What are we building?

Science Funding Review: New Visions and New Directions

Clean Energy and Climate Change as Global Priorities: Implications for Canada?

Canada’s Return to the International Stage: How Can Science Help Foreign Policy?

To read more click here.

The CSPC 2016 call for panel proposals is now open! We invite proposals in different presentation formats that revolve around any of the above mentioned conference themes. The variety of presentation formats throughout the conference makes it possible for delegates and organizations to share their thoughts, views and experiences in the most convenient manner possible. Proposals of organizations and individuals from across all sectors and disciplines are welcome.The proposals will be reviewed, selected and presented at the next conference. Everyone is invited to participate.

The deadline for submitting your proposal is Friday June 17th 2016. This year CSPC urges the submitters to emphasize a futuristic approach on their proposals, presenting the best solutions to the challenges, while using interactive formats for the panels. A detailed description of the submission criteria and panel formats (streams) can be found here. [There is a discrepancy as of May 19, 2016 the deadline on this page has not been updated]

To submit a panel please click here

Given the titles for four of the five themes, the organizers are very excited about the ‘new’ government and the ‘return’ of the Liberals.

Side note: I’m watching the situation with Prime Minister Trudeau and his recent shoving incident in Parliament’s House of Commons with some interest as I ponder what impact, if any, this may have on more open relations with the media and possible fallout for science and media. For anyone not familiar with the situation, there’s this May 19, 2016 article by Tonya Michaels for Star.com,

Parliament turned downright ugly when an impatient Prime Minister Justin Trudeau crossed the aisle to drag an opposition MP forward so a vote could take place, knocking aside a female NDP [New Democratic Party] MP who was so shaken she had to leave the chamber.

The encounter Wednesday led to a shouting match between Trudeau and NDP Leader Tom Mulcair after Trudeau briefly crossed the floor a second time appearing to look for someone. Mulcair can be heard on Commons video footage yelling at Trudeau: “What kind of man elbows a woman? You’re pathetic.”

The confrontation took place late in the day prior to a vote on a government bid to limit debate on its assisted suicide bill, with the opposition already furious at another Liberal move to seize control over the parliamentary agenda.

Michaels goes into more detail about the vote and the tension in her article which also hosts an embedded video of the incident. For the record, he did apologize.

*Ooops! I forgot to give this title. Corrected May 19, 2016 2 minutes after first publication.