“Documents obtained through freedom of information law show how Canada’s Harper government is controlling federal scientists’ ability to communicate with journalists on scientific issues. The requirement for ministerial-level pre-approval for media contacts applies broadly, not only to politically contentious issues like climate change and oil sands. “It’s Orwellian,” says Andrew Weaver, a climatologist at University of Victoria, quoted in the Montreal Gazette. The public has a right to know what federal scientists are discovering and learning. On this issue, the Ottawa Citizen suggests the Harper government is engaged in “a creeping and worrisome authoritarianism.”
Oh lord, we unmuzzle our federal scientists here in the US, and the Canadians (the Canadians!?!) go the other way. Well, if nothing else this demonstrates that science is always political – though not always this obviously. People forget/don’t realize that governments determine how pots of research money are to be spent, which tends to shape what research gets done. This decision is political. So the administration in charge of those research dollars can have a huge impact on science and knowledge . . . without resorting to such crude measures as muzzling their scientists.
I think Rick’s response is on point: this is research being paid for with taxpayer dollars – therefore the taxpayer has a right to hear what the scientists found out with those dollars, even if the government in charge thinks those findings are inconvenient politically. Any time a government starts to muzzle science that is paid for with taxpayer dollars, the citizenry needs to push back . . .