Marc Garneau, Canada's first astronaut who died at 76, embodied curiosity over courage. His 1984 shuttle flight proved science matters to Canada. The speaker warns that science now faces political attack and calls for sustained funding and education to keep knowledge alive.
You know, I remember when Marc Garneau was first appointed to cabinet 10 years ago. I remember it not as much for his appointment as much as for everyone else. The Minister of Health was a doctor. The Minister of Justice was a lawyer. The Minister of Defence was a military leader. The Minister of Innovation was an engineer. And the Minister of Transportation was a fucking astronaut. It's like as if we were trying to say to the rest of the democracies in the world, like, what more do you want from us? Marc Garneau was Canada's first astronaut. He went in the space shuttle in 1984, did a bunch of science experiments on the effect of low gravity on muscle tone and heart function. It was kind of low-key because, well, Canada. But that first flight wasn't as much about conquering space It was more about a country planting its flag on something bigger. Proof that science matters. Today, more than 40 years later, science is under attack. Facts are politicized. Science gets mocked and defunded. The vacuum filled with conspiracy theories about microchips in vaccines. Nations that once built the future are now retreating into the past. Garneau was just our first astronaut. Roberta Bondar, Julie Payette, Chris Hadfield. Each of them proving that you can serve your country not just with courage, but with curiosity. Maybe now, maybe again, with truth under siege in so many places, maybe Canada has a role to play. Not just as a participant in global science, but as its defender, its steward, its lighthouse. Even if that lighthouse is running on a grant that needs to be renewed every fiscal year. Because at least today, science still matters here. We send kids to school with questions, not answers. Our classrooms teach evolution and climate science without apology. We pour funding into research because we believe that science is not a talking point. If the world keeps turning away from knowledge, someone has to keep that flame alive. That could be us, if we choose to. Marc Garneau died today. He was 76. An astronaut, a cabinet minister, a naval officer, a doctor of engineering, But I suspect the title he was most proud of: a Canadian. One who touched the sky, not to conquer it, but to understand it.
Ten times Canada helped the U.S. with its wildfires, instead of whining about the smoke. 
