The scythe of our provincial government has struck again and, this time, the cut is almost perfectly clean.

Readers from outside Quebec may not be aware that our provincial government has been issuing major cuts in the past few months. On April 23rd, 2014, Philippe Couillard, head of the Liberal Party, became Prime Minister of Quebec. I was proud to see a former head of neurosurgery become such an influential political leader. If one thing could be guaranteed, I mistakenly thought, it was integrity to our health care and education systems.

Our health care system is in the midst of a dire reorganization, which will take effect in April of 2015. Meanwhile, close to 5500 scientists and science support staff have recently signed a petition to remind the Liberal government that, in this period of austerity, science should not end up on the chopping block (see the article from