(The following is a slightly edited version of an invited post appearing on The Inside Agenda Blog on TVO’s web space.) Canada retreats from Science Canada is retreating from investment in science and engineering. Public letters (by 10 prominent physicists, 336 mathematicians, 49 leading researchers) have signaled alarms at changes to the NSERC Discovery Grants Program and the elimination of the Major Resources Support (MRS) and Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) programs.

Dear James, Thank you for this opportunity to respond to your recent blog posting on Perimeter Institute and offer some clarifications. First, the comparisons of support for different institutions and programs presented in this posting mix total funding over time (including endowment contributions) with annual budgets and ignore substantial differences between their operations. For example, Perimeter Institute currently houses over 140 full-time trainees and researchers (from Masters students to senior faculty) whereas to my knowledge the Fields Institute has none.

Efforts to understand the foundational issues of theoretical physics have been made by scientists over millennia. Human beings are naturally curious: we want to deeply understand nature. With pioneering insights by Aristarchus and Archimedes, Copernicus and Kepler and, more recently, Dirac and Feynman, humans have made spectacular advances. The benefits of basic research investigations cascade into fundamental improvements for humans living on earth. Visionary investors, like the Duke of Braunschweig Charles William Ferdinand in the eighteenth century and Mike Lazaridis of today, have recognized the virtues of investing in basic research.

Self-qualified intellectuals, like Texas Governor Rick Perry, have a right to know! I was born in El Paso: I have a right to know! Parents of American kids have a right to know! Does the Theory of Evolution have anything to do with our medicines? Which ones? Flu shots? Cancer treatments?   Medicines which are designed based on the Theory of Evolution should have a visible disclosure label. Here are two suggestions for images that might be appropriate for the evolution disclosure label: