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One of the world's most respected journals has dealt a strong blow to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative government's “manifest disregard for science.”

In a strongly worded editorial, entitled Science in Retreat and published in Thursday's issue, the British journal Nature wrote that while Canada's researchers consistently rank among the world's finest, the same cannot be said for the federal government's position on science and research.

“Science has long faced an uphill battle for recognition in Canada, but the slope became steeper when the Conservative government was elected in 2006,” the editorial says.

It goes on to list the Conservatives' skepticism on the science of climate change and its retreat from Canada's Kyoto commitment.

In particular, the editorial lambastes the government's decision to move the office of chemist Arthur Carty – appointed in 2004 by then-prime-minister Paul Martin as Canada's independent national science adviser – away from the Prime Minister's Office to Industry Canada. Mr. Harper's government, the editorial says, set the office up to “fail” by giving it an “abysmal” budget and a “vague” mandate. The government then told Dr. Carty he was no longer needed as science adviser, and Dr. Carty offered his resignation.

Reached at his Ottawa home last night, Dr. Carty told The Globe and Mail he believes that the Conservative government needs to put a lot more effort into supporting science in Canada.

“The editorial is factual. I don't have much more to say, other than I think the facts are pretty right.”

In Dr. Carty's place, the government last year formed the 18-member Science, Technology and Innovation Council, which the editorial says was expected to be “markedly less independent” because several government administrators also hold seats.

In a rebuttal letter to Nature, Industry Minister Jim Prentice writes that the government is committed to “supporting world-leading research.”

“How anyone can state that 18 bright minds cannot perform the task of one science adviser – who decided to retire after years of dedicated public service – is incomprehensible,” he writes.

In response to the government's attitude toward climate change, the letter says: “[B]oth the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Environment have been clear on numerous occasions that the government considers climate change to be one of the greatest threats facing the world today.”

With a report from Gloria Galloway