I am no fan of Justin Trudeau's Liberals,  but this true anecdote suggests that hiring one mere scientist is not altogether wasteful. Back in 1975  I was hired fresh out of grad school for a six-week term job at something called Ministry of State for Science and Technology. Then, THREE HUNDRED people in that department gave advice to Cabinet! That's all they did.  And another  useless department,  Ministry of State for Urban Affairs, gave advice to Cabinet. So way back then, there was plenty of waste in father Pierre's government.  -- David Murrell, Economics,  UNB at Fredericton