He got a standing ovation from a room full of scientists, people who shape science policy and students who are worried about the future of science policy. He wasn't a scientist, didn't have a Nobel prize, hadn't done reality television, and wasn't running for political office.
He was a former MP from Alberta with a big name.
Preston Manning wowed them at the Canadian Science Policy Conference as the key note luncheon speaker and left them wanting more.
His messages were simple and came with the passion he has for science advocacy.

• Scientists need to be more politically active
• They need to learn how to communicate to politicians and by extension the public
• We need a strong federal office of science

What I found particularly noteworthy was that Mr. Manning talked mostly about science, science funding, and science policy. He did not couple it with 'technology' or 'innovation'.
It was particularly worth noting because one of the points that Kamiel Gabriel noted when he introduced his panel session this morning was that we tend to always use science in conjunction with technology or innovation. Preston Manning didn't flag the fact he wasn't linking the terms - he simply didn't do it. It was also an interesting point because as we fund science and technology or science and innovation because there will always be some internal push and pull and the morning plenary sessions were definitely heavy on science and technology and science and innovation.

One of the earlier speakers Alain Beaudet from CIHR, had said that we can't be 'too Canadian' and try to please everyone. It strikes me that it is a tough enough challege in science to please everyone, but if it becomes an innovation and a technology funding basket as well, not many may actually starve to death, but everyone will be left hungry and without much energy.

The Canadian Science Policy Conference set out to bridge some of those gaps. The morning plenary session did set out to do that by bringing together a wide range of players from science, academia, industry, and government, but it took Preston Manning to inspire. He put out a call for action, something that science as a whole tends to resist at a political level.
Judging by the buzz in the whole we just may find a few more politically keen scientists walking the research halls across the country and trying to turn their think tanks into do tanks.



Alain Beaudet addresses the Canadian Science Policy Conference on October 29^th.