The office of Chief Science Advisor Mona Nemer scrambled to justify spending more than $34,000 on a UFO survey that no parliamentarian requested, according to access-to-information records that raise fresh questions about Ottawa’s spending priorities.Blacklock's Reporter says internal 2024 memos show staff were instructed to come up with a rationale for the polling project as cabinet publicly pledged to rein in unnecessary expenditures. “Elaborate on the justification for why the survey is needed,” staff wrote, describing the work as part of an effort to counter disinformation and conspiracy theories by making information publicly accessible.The memo directed officials to align the survey with federal public opinion research objectives and to explain how the research would support the chief science advisor, the government, and Canadians. “Explain the manner in which this research is required,” the document said.Despite the internal uncertainty, Nemer’s office paid $34,369 to Earnscliffe Strategy Group, an Ottawa-based polling firm, to survey Canadians about unidentified flying objects. .Records indicate the research was initiated solely within the chief science advisor’s office.The resulting report suggested the public was largely unimpressed. “Support for actual public spending on unidentified aerial phenomenon investigation is not strong,” pollsters wrote, noting that only 1 in 10 respondents felt it was very important to dedicate funds to investigate reported sightings.The survey of 1,008 Canadians found that 27% said they had seen an object or phenomenon in the sky they could not identify. Of those, only 1 in 10 reported the sighting to authorities. Sightings were most frequently reported in British Columbia at 32%, followed by Ontario at 29%, Saskatchewan and Manitoba at 25%, Quebec at 24%, and Alberta and Atlantic Canada at 21%.Respondents cited uncertainty as the main reason for not reporting sightings, including doubts about what they actually observed..Overall, Canadians expressed what pollsters described as a “limited degree of real alarm” about UFOs. When asked about the possible source of unidentified aerial phenomena, 10% blamed aliens, while others pointed to weather at 5%, foreign governments at 4%, and drones, satellites, or weather balloons at 4%. Smaller numbers blamed their own government or the military, each at 3%.Only 10% of respondents strongly agreed that unidentified aerial phenomena represent a flight safety issue in Canada, reinforcing the survey’s conclusion that federal spending in the area lacks broad public support.
