In troubling times, sound and timely science advice matters. It helps if you have trusted structures and institutions to rely on for such advice. Canada has been fortunate to have a public that largely trusts its knowledge and science actors.
Core Member, Institute for Science, Society and Policy
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, uOttawa
‘Don’t panic’ says the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Sage advice in any time. Especially now.
To say COVID-19 has changed our lives seems a gross understatement. We are all feeling the impacts of social isolation, whether it is as benign as working from home or as drastic as quarantine, and wondering how long this will last. Anxiety is the new normal. Panic feels just steps away.
Dr. Nigel Cameron
Senior Fellow, Institute for Science, Society and Policy
We’ve all observed the halting and surprisingly diverse approaches of governments around the planet to the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 - the official name of the virus causing the coronavirus disease COVID-19. (And yes, it would help all of us if WHO could take the advice of the weather services and come up with simple names for these things.) We’ve been asking why their approaches have been so different – in timing as well as focus – in dealing with exactly the same problem.
Senior Fellow, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs University of Ottawa
Adapted from a Keynote Speech, CN-Tellier Forum on Business and Public Policy: “Working Together to Improve Canada’s Competitiveness”
I arrived in Ottawa in 1972. My first task was to evaluate the industrial R&D promotion programs of the then Industry Trade and Commerce and Defence departments.
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ISSP or its staff.
