Gary Goodyear
Gary T. Goodyear is a Canadian politician. He was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 2004 to 2015, having been elected to represent the riding of Cambridge as a Conservative in 2004. On October 30, 2008 he was named Minister of State for Science & Technology within Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Cabinet. Goodyear was re-elected in the May 2nd elections in 2011 and returned to Stephen Harper's cabinet as Minister of State for Science & Technology. He was replaced in this capacity by Greg Rickford on July 15, 2013.
Goodyear was defeated by Liberal Candidate Bryan May, in the 2015 Canadian federal election.
Education and chiropractic career
Goodyear was raised and educated in Cambridge, Ontario. After high school he attended the University of Waterloo, studying in Biomechanics and Psychology, but left without completing a degree.He afterwards attended the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, where he graduated cum laude, was class president, and valedictorian. He started his full-time practice in Cambridge in 1984 where he was Clinic Director, Director of Patient Services and Past President of Future Recovery Canada. He was a co-designer of the three year post-graduate Sports Fellowship Program. He also co-authored "Practice Guidelines" and was Public Relations Director and Past President for the College of Chiropractic Sports Sciences in Toronto. He was also the health columnist for the Cambridge Times newspaper from 1986 to 1996, and has taught at the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College and the University of Waterloo..
Political career
In the 2004 federal election, Goodyear defeated incumbent Liberal Janko Peric by 224 votes to win the Cambridge riding. After the election, Goodyear was named Ontario Chair of the Conservative Party caucus. He was re-elected in 2006 with the endorsement of Vote Marriage Canada, and was also endorsed by the Canadian Islamic Congress receiving a grade of A In 2006, he won the riding of Cambridge by almost 6,000 votes.After the 2006 federal election Goodyear was elected Standing committee chair of the Procedure and House Affairs Committee In March 2008 the Procedure and House Affairs Committee ousted Goodyear by moving a motion of non-confidence in him. The committee then elected Conservative MP Joe Preston as the chair against his will, and he called no meetings before resigning from his position. The committee currently has no chair and has not met since March 6. Jay Hill, Conservative party whip, said he is adamant that unless the opposition is willing to meet to re-elect Goodyear as the chair and to withdraw the motion to study the In and Out scandal, there will be no Procedure and House Affairs committee meetings.
The Speaker of the House made a ruling on the events in this committee and others which stated rulings by committee chairs are being routinely overturned by majority votes, even when the rulings are procedurally sound. Such a state of affairs has led to "general lawlessness" at committees.
Goodyear also chairs Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure He was also named Chairman of the all-party Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group.
A former campaign manager for Goodyear admits he negotiated a lease for a campaign headquarters in 2004 that said the landlord would make a political donation to Goodyear's election bid. In a compliance agreement with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, Reg Petersen "acknowledged an act that constitutes an offence" under the Elections Act.
The Conservative Party's spokesperson, Ryan Sparrow, responded that the error was a mistake made by a first-time campaign manager and noted that "Elections Canada has acknowledged that made a mistake and no further action has been taken."
Role in cabinet
Following the Conservative victory in the 2008 federal election, Goodyear was appointed to the cabinet portfolio of Minister of State for Science and Technology.Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario)
In 2009 named Minister of State responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario created by the federal government through Budget 2009 to "support Ontario’s then floundering economy." FedDev Ontario had a $1-billion budget for 2009-2014. Among other things, FedDev helped small companies develop new products faster, similar to the role played by the Industrial Research Assistance Program.In May 2012 Jameson Berkow of reported in the Financial Post that halfway its mandate, "Mr. Goodyear’s Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario appears to have enjoyed unbridled success in helping Canada’s most populous province save itself from economic oblivion."
Minister of State for Science and Technology 2008
Under the federal Minister of State for Science and Technology, Gary Goodyear, the NRC became a "toolbox for industry" and dented basic-research infrastructure.In early 2009, Goodyear oversaw $147.9 million in funding cuts for science programs, the most prominent being the lack of any funding for new projects for Genome Canada. Critics of the cuts, including a team of neuroscientists who lost funding, argued that when coupled with the Obama administration's increased funding for science, the cuts could produce a brain drain as researchers move to the United States and secure funding.
June 2009 saw Goodyear recommending the SSHRC withdraw a $19,750 funding grant for a future of Israel and Palestine conference because it was deemed by the Minister to be too anti-Israel. Goodyear responded, saying that he did call the SSHRC to ask for a funding review, but denied he asked them to cancel the grant.
Economic Action Plan
Under Goodyear, federal science and technology expenditures reached nearly $11.9 billion in 2010–11. In the Economic Action Plan 2012, the federal government announced that one billion new dollars are to be invested in science and technology.Under the Economic Action Plan, the National Research Council was transformed into a research and technology organization that focuses on "business-led research." On 7 May 2013, the NRC launched its new "business approach" in which it offered only four "business lines": "strategic research and development, technical services, management of science and technology infrastructure and NRC-Industrial Research Assistance Program. These four business lines are intended to shorten the gap between early stage research and development and commercialization. NRC is focus "real-world applications" was the creation of the Canadian Wheat Alliance, in 2013 with NRC, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Government of Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan. With a budget of approximately $97 million, the Canadian Wheat Alliance will study improving the yield of Canadian wheat even in extreme weather, integrating "basic research with genetic improvement" of wheat crops, and research on efficient use of chemical fertilizers. Working with the Crop Development Centre they will be integrating "basic research with genetic improvement" of wheat. The second major industry-led research in 2013 is the Algal Carbon Conversion Pilot Project, development of an algae system to recycle carbon emissions from the oil sands, with plans for a $19 million facility to be constructed in Alberta, in partnership between the NRC and industry partners, Canadian Natural Resources Limited and Pond Biofuels.
Electoral record
Political controversies
View on evolution
In a March 2009 interview, The Globe and Mail asked Goodyear if he believed in evolution. He responded, "I am a Christian, and I don't think anybody asking a question about my religion is appropriate." While many scientists and educators expressed shock at this, others defended the minister, citing statistics that show a majority of Canadians believe God played a role in creation. Later that day, however, Goodyear said that he believed in evolution during an interview with CTV News. When asked to clarify this belief, Goodyear responded "We are evolving, every year, every decade. That’s a fact. Whether it’s to the intensity of the sun, whether it’s to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it’s running shoes or high heels, of course, we are evolving to our environment."He also garnered criticism from MP Elizabeth May, among others, for a comment during a debate on an NDP opposition motion in June 2012. Parliamentary proceedings for June 5, 2012, record Goodyear as saying,
This comment was in response to a question by MP Bruce Hyer, again concerning Goodyear's belief in evolution,