OTTAWA - Green party Leader Elizabeth May says the Harper government is gutting its ability to deal with climate change by laying off key researchers at Environment Canada.
May says she has received emails from contract employees and their colleagues saying work on adaptation to climate change will be undermined by the cuts.
May said it appears 46 contract employees have been given notice, and the majority of them work in climate-change research, especially in the area devoted to figuring out what preparations Canada must undertake to cope with a warming climate.
She called on Environment Minister Peter Kent to reverse the cuts and to make his moves transparent so that the public would understand what kind of work would be affected.
A spokeswoman for Kent says no permanent Environment Canada employees have been laid off.
But Melissa Lantsman adds a tight budget means temporary or contract positions all need to be reviewed over the next two years.
"In this economic climate we need to ensure that we are being prudent with taxpayer money. Notice was given to all such employees in an effort to ensure complete transparency," Lantsman said.
May contends there is more to the cuts than a tight budget.
"The cuts are falling disproportionately in the climate area," she said in a news conference Wednesday.
She pointed out that they come on the heels of staff reductions at the National Research Council and the drying up of federal funding for the Canadian Foundation of Climate and Atmospheric Sciences.
