Mert Taylor is an unlikely rebel.
A self-described cowboy from southwest Saskatchewan, Mr. Taylor rode the range for the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration for more than four decades, looking after community pastures. Like most people who live close to Saskatchewan's historic grasslands, the years of literally watching the grass grow have left an indelible mark on the man.
But changes in the way the federal government is treating that land has him uncharacteristically speaking up. In a feature article by naturalist Trevor Herriot published in the Globe and Mail, Mr. Taylor says that ending the PFRA's stewardship over the community pasture threatens the biodiversity that was protected on the government-owned land.
It took a while before Mr. Taylor would talk about the risk posed to Saskatchewan's native land. Initially he was ordered by his superiors in Agriculture Canada to stay silent. It was only after his union told him that he would have greater liberty to speak up by becoming a shop steward that he decided to take the chance.
Mr. Taylor isn't the only public servant, past or present, who has decided to make some noise. Last week, retired water scientist Marley Waiser told the CBC that her employer, Environment Canada, had prevented her from talking about research into the impact on Wascana Creek of human-made compounds that were passing unfiltered through Regina's sewage treatment plant. Both Ms. Waiser and Mr. Taylor are bristling at the commands they remain silent to protect the government when what they signed on in their careers was to protect Canadians and Canada. They are not alone.
Increasingly the Harper government is coming under fire, domestically and abroad, for its determination to silence the public service. Until recently, it seemed Canadians were willing to ignore the outcry from scientists and bureaucrats and give the government the benefit of the doubt.
Ottawa's strategy was aided by technology. As departing McGill University principal Heather Munroe-Blum told a Toronto audience last week, it's no longer as easy as it was a couple of decades ago to use an evidence-based approach to discuss public policy. Media bombard people with disparate messages, and make it difficult to sort fact from fiction.
"And fiction becomes fact in 30 seconds, and fact becomes obliterated," she said, in reference to the Quebec demonstrations on tuition rates.
The Harper government has mastered this strategy, declaring that it is investing record amounts in science even as it shuts down world-renown environmental and ecological research site, and that the cuts it's making to federal bodies such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Aboriginal Affairs, the Canadian Revenue Agency, and Human Resources won't affect front line services. But according to a national survey conducted for Postmedia News by Ipsos Reid, Canadians no longer buy the argument. According to pollster Darrell Bricker, there is increasing public fatigue with how Mr. Harper governs.
With a growing army of civil servants starting to speak out, that fatigue is bound to grow. Once doubt is out of the corral, it's a difficult task to rein it back in.
The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper's editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.
Original Article
Source: thestarphoenix.com
Author: The StarPhoenix
A self-described cowboy from southwest Saskatchewan, Mr. Taylor rode the range for the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration for more than four decades, looking after community pastures. Like most people who live close to Saskatchewan's historic grasslands, the years of literally watching the grass grow have left an indelible mark on the man.
But changes in the way the federal government is treating that land has him uncharacteristically speaking up. In a feature article by naturalist Trevor Herriot published in the Globe and Mail, Mr. Taylor says that ending the PFRA's stewardship over the community pasture threatens the biodiversity that was protected on the government-owned land.
It took a while before Mr. Taylor would talk about the risk posed to Saskatchewan's native land. Initially he was ordered by his superiors in Agriculture Canada to stay silent. It was only after his union told him that he would have greater liberty to speak up by becoming a shop steward that he decided to take the chance.
Mr. Taylor isn't the only public servant, past or present, who has decided to make some noise. Last week, retired water scientist Marley Waiser told the CBC that her employer, Environment Canada, had prevented her from talking about research into the impact on Wascana Creek of human-made compounds that were passing unfiltered through Regina's sewage treatment plant. Both Ms. Waiser and Mr. Taylor are bristling at the commands they remain silent to protect the government when what they signed on in their careers was to protect Canadians and Canada. They are not alone.
Increasingly the Harper government is coming under fire, domestically and abroad, for its determination to silence the public service. Until recently, it seemed Canadians were willing to ignore the outcry from scientists and bureaucrats and give the government the benefit of the doubt.
Ottawa's strategy was aided by technology. As departing McGill University principal Heather Munroe-Blum told a Toronto audience last week, it's no longer as easy as it was a couple of decades ago to use an evidence-based approach to discuss public policy. Media bombard people with disparate messages, and make it difficult to sort fact from fiction.
"And fiction becomes fact in 30 seconds, and fact becomes obliterated," she said, in reference to the Quebec demonstrations on tuition rates.
The Harper government has mastered this strategy, declaring that it is investing record amounts in science even as it shuts down world-renown environmental and ecological research site, and that the cuts it's making to federal bodies such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Aboriginal Affairs, the Canadian Revenue Agency, and Human Resources won't affect front line services. But according to a national survey conducted for Postmedia News by Ipsos Reid, Canadians no longer buy the argument. According to pollster Darrell Bricker, there is increasing public fatigue with how Mr. Harper governs.
With a growing army of civil servants starting to speak out, that fatigue is bound to grow. Once doubt is out of the corral, it's a difficult task to rein it back in.
The editorials that appear in this space represent the opinion of The StarPhoenix. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. The positions taken in the editorials are arrived at through discussion among the members of the newspaper's editorial board, which operates independently from the news departments of the paper.
Original Article
Source: thestarphoenix.com
Author: The StarPhoenix
No comments:
Post a Comment