New York Times criticizes Harper government’s alleged muzzling of scientists

OTTAWA — The New York Times editorial board is taking the Harper government to task for allegedly silencing publicly funded scientists, a strategy the Times says is designed to ensure oilsands production proceeds quietly.

The strongly worded Sunday editorial comes as the PR fight over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is heating up, with U.S. President Barack Obama yet to make a decision on whether to approve the project that would transport bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

“Over the last few years, the government of Canada — led by Stephen Harper — has made it harder and harder for publicly financed scientists to communicate with the public and with other scientists,” the Times editorial board says.

“The government is doing all it can to monitor and restrict the flow of scientific information, especially concerning research into climate change, fisheries and anything to do with the Alberta tarsands — source of the diluted bitumen that would flow through the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.”

Complaints that the government has tightened the leash on Canada’s federal scientists conducting taxpayer-funded research have been a source of controversy for years.

In several cases, documented by Postmedia News and Postmedia newspapers, scientists have been denied permission to speak to the media about studies about Arctic ozone loss and prehistoric floods.

The federal information commissioner’s office launched an investigation into complaints on the matter earlier this year. The government has denied that it muzzles scientists, saying it provides significant access to them.

But the Times said Canada’s track record on the issue far outstrips similar troubles in the U.S. under the Bush administration.

“There was trouble of this kind here in the George W. Bush years, when scientists were asked to toe the party line on climate policy and endangered species. But nothing came close to what is being done in Canada.

“This is more than an attack on academic freedom. It is an attempt to guarantee public ignorance.”

The Times editorial said the government’s approach is “designed to make sure that nothing gets in the way of the northern resource rush — the feverish effort to mine the earth and the ocean with little regard for environmental consequences.”

“The Harper policy seems designed to make sure that the tarsands project proceeds quietly, with no surprises, no bad news, no alarms from government scientists.”

That characterization comes days after Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver visited New York and, in a speech to a high-profile energy conference, took aim at the U.S.’s coal-fired power sector, saying burning coal to generate electricity represents the world’s biggest climate threat, and that Canada is tacking action to address it.

Also last week, actor Robert Redford released a video urging Americans to oppose Keystone XL.

In a statement, the Natural Resources Minister said the article “grossly misrepresents the ability of scientists working for the Canadian public service to communicate with the public.”

“Neither I nor any member of my political staff have ever directed scientists not communicate with each other or with the public, nor, to my knowledge, has any member of my ministry,” Oliver told Postmedia News.

He also said that the editorial distorts the federal government’s approach to development of the oilsands.

“Americans are free to oppose resource projects in Canada as they are to development in their own country. However, it would be refreshing if they confined themselves to the facts and the science.”

Original Article
Source: canada.com
Author: Michael Woods