Muzzled Canadian Scientists Can Now Speak Freely With Public (thestar.com)

Layzej writes: Over the last 10 years, policies were put in place to prevent Canadian scientists from freely discussing taxpayer-funded science with the public. "media relations contacts" were enlisted to monitor and record interactions with the press. Interviews and often the questions to be asked were vetted ahead of time, and responses given by scientists frequently monitored or prohibited. Nature, one of the world's top science journals, called the policy a "Byzantine approach to the press, prioritizing message control and showing little understanding of the importance of the free flow of scientific knowledge."

The new government in Canada is lifting these restrictions. Scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans were told Thursday they can now speak to the media. In a statement on Friday afternoon, Navdeep Bains, Canada's new minister of innovation, science and economic development said "Our government values science and will treat scientists with respect. This is why government scientists and experts will be able to speak freely about their work to the media and the public."

Comments

Deja vu

[Ol Olsoc]

Remember those old cold war films where a KGB agent who accompanied seemingly everyone to make certain they toed the line?

Here in the frozen Tundra was a real life example.

Scientists must really be on to something if they aren't allowed to talk about it.

Oh... Canada.

Re: Deja vu

[MightyMartian]

Another Canadian here. The above poster is an arse. The Canadian government under Harper muzzled scientists, literally sending scientists out with political minders to conferences. Above poster is clearly a bitter Tory looking to blame someone else for his party's defeat.

Re: Deja vu

[Em Adespoton]

I have to admit, I've been completely cynical about the country going from "conservative for conservative's sake, even when it flies in the face of logic" to "let's try new things, damn the expenses!" leadership -- but so far, the Liberals' actual moves have really impressed me; IMO they've been doing everything right. We'll see if that extends to some degree of fiscal responsibility -- that's going to be a thorny one -- and the TPP.

The one thing Justin has going for him is that he had to experience his father. There was a great documentary done a number of years back -- if it's at all factual, Justin won't be quick to repeat the mistakes of Pierre. He not only appears to have learned how things work from him, but also what not to do to mess up a country. We'll see if that lasts through an entire term.

Re: Deja vu

[SuiteSisterMary]

See, here's the thing. Canada had the FLQ crisis, and yes, Trudeau called out the military.

But you know what he did when the crisis was over? He sent the military back to base. No USAPATRIOT act, no Homeland Security, no Transportation Safety Authority, no profiling of Quebecois, no 'terrorist threat level' colour coded chart, nothing. The problem got sorted out, and we, as a country, moved on.

Scientists and media both happy

[Anonymous Coward]

Not only were scientists muzzled, the media wasn't allowed to question the government either. Any kind of press was carefully preplanned, scripted and designed with the best interests of the Conservative party in mind.

I strongly disagree with the Conservative Party of Canada. Don't forget, these aren't the "Progressive Conservatives" that won votes on policy, these are the hard right Reformers who campaign on fear and divisiveness.

Re:Scientists and media both happy

[Anonymous Coward]

That sounds suspiciously like the beginnings of a totalitarian regime. Probably why the liberals got a 'surprise' win ... I think Conservatives assume all other people are as stupid as they are. I'm in the US, but once I realized how conservatives here reject solid scientific conclusions based on hard evidence of many things, even when the logic is undeniable (to a rational person) ... I realized how irrational they really are. I'll never vote for another one as long as I live. This covers a myriad of topics, but I use Creationism as my litmus test. Anyone that believes the earth was literally created in 6 days a few thousand years ago is not mentally equipped to be making policies or laws that will affect me.

Re:Scientists and media both happy

[dryeo]

You would have liked Harpers small government. Things like shrinking Revenue Canada so all it can investigate is left wing non-profits, shrinking Election Canada so it can't even tell people where to vote accurately, little well encourage them, shrinking the military so all the moneys spent on killing brown people and buying the F35, a plane that's useless for the arctic, but no money for the injured vets returning. A huge propaganda department so continuous bombardment of ads telling us how great Harpers Government (not the Government of Canada) is doing and of course spying on the citizens as they might have the wrong politics.
Yes a small government that is big enough to go after its opponents and get their message out.
Oh also a government that can inherit a surplus and run a $56 billion deficit while telling us how fiscally responsible they are. At least they didn't waste those $2 billion on those welfare queen veterans and finally balanced the budget after 7 years of deficits.

Re:What information was muzzled?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Canadian science

[crashexl2000]

In related news, a flood of new scientific data was released on the subject of maple syrup.

Yay!

[nintendoeats]

This is more or less the main thing I voted against Harper over. Yes, he was terrible in many ways but this was the most blatantly anti-public-interest. Unfortunately according to former members of the NRC, rebuilding what Harper dismantled could take decades.

As a Canadian I must say....

[substance2003]

... it was long overdue. I'm not a fan of the Liberals but this is a good 1st step in the right direction.
Thank you must also be given to the voters who finally were able to rally and kick out the Conservatives.
Too often we do not feel our votes make a difference but it did make one here.
Now the only question to us is, how far will these changes go? We'll see over time.

Re:Do Canadian Scientists respect the public?

[Nemyst]

Um, no it has nothing to do with this. Canadian scientists were muzzled by the Conservative government in large part because what they would've otherwise said would have gone against the political agenda of the Conservative party. Let's just say that the vast majority of their policies were grounded in idiotic convictions rather than analysis. Conservatives also seem to hate science as a general rule, because God's word is all you need.

This is just the start of the undoing of the dark ages. It'll take years to restore everything, assuming the Liberals actually do try to restore everything. This first move was by far the easiest and is universally approved.

Re:What information was muzzled?

[jenningsthecat]

What information was muzzled during the last 10 years?

Here are a few examples:

http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/when-science-goes-silent/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/federal-scientists-push-for-protection-from-political-interference/article24473222/