Keep ‘unmuzzled’ scientists on tight leash, senior civil servants warn Liberals

OTTAWA—Senior civil servants warned the new Liberal government that “unmuzzled” scientists still need a tight leash, internal documents show.

The new Liberal government has pledged to end an effective gag order on government scientists, who for years have faced major restrictions on speaking publicly about their research.

Health Canada hands over documents but muzzles doctor

Four years after he first asked Health Canada for all the information it had on a popular morning sickness drug, Toronto doctor Nav Persaud finally has the documents.

But he cannot tell his patients or any other Canadians what’s in them.

Under the terms of a confidentiality agreement he had to make with the federal regulator in order to receive the 35,000 pages, he can’t even tell his wife.

Potentially scandalous probe into muzzled scientists not likely out by Oct.19

A potentially explosive parliamentary investigation into the Harper government's so-called "muzzling" of government scientists shows no signs of being released before the federal election on Oct.19, despite Canada's Information Commissioner digging into it for more than two and a half years.

“Voters need to know what the result of that investigation has been,” said law professor Calvin Sandborn, with the University of Victoria's Environmental Law Centre. “I think the public needs to know the extent of the muzzling… Our submission is that it runs very deep in government."

It's Time for Action on Canada's Muzzled Scientists

What has become of the federal Information Commissioner's investigation into Canada's muzzled federal scientists?

There's evidence that scientists are being silenced, and that the government has been misleading the public and Parliament about it. The damage to the public interest is extensive and ongoing.

The Gargoyle: Ottawa South Tory candidate invites media, refuses interviews

Conservative candidate Dev Balkissoon will be opening his campaign office on Aug. 30 at noon, but the Ottawa South hopeful will continue a trend of not addressing the media during the event.

Nearly a week after every Conservative candidate in the Ottawa area missed a meeting with Mayor Jim Watson, Balkissoon’s campaign staff will keep making him unavailable to questions from the media when they open his office on Lorry Greenberg Drive.

Public servant investigated over political 'Harperman' song

An Ottawa federal scientist is being investigated for breaching the public service’s ethics code for writing and performing a highly political protest song to get rid of the Harper government.

Tony Turner, a scientist in habitat planning at Environment Canada, was recently sent home on leave with pay while the government investigates the making of Harperman, a music video posted on YouTube in early June that has attracted about 48,000 hits.

Mark Johnson, a spokesman for Environment Canada, said the department wouldn’t be commenting on the case because of “privacy concerns.” He said public servants agree to comply with the value and ethics code — which lays out expected behaviours — when they join the government regardless of their level or job.

Steve Campana, Canadian biologist, 'disgusted' with government muzzling

A recently retired Fisheries and Oceans Canada biologist says the muzzling of federal government scientists is worse than anyone can imagine.

Steve Campana, known for his expertise on everything from great white sharks to porbeagles and Arctic trout, says the atmosphere working for the federal government is toxic.

The Halifax-based scientist, who only agreed to talk to CBC after he retired from the department, says federal scientists have been working in a climate of fear.

Cabinet secrecy blocks rationale behind Harper government’s advertising slogan

OTTAWA - Strong. Proud. Free. And a state secret.

The genesis of the Harper government's "Strong Proud Free" slogan that is currently bombarding Canadian television viewers is considered a cabinet confidence and will be sealed from public scrutiny for 20 years.

A request by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act seeking any background rationale for the tagline, which is being used to punctuate all the latest taxpayer-funded advertising, has come up empty.

How the Ministry of Environment Vetoed Our Interview Request

Documents obtained by DeSmog Canada reveal that Canada's Ministry of Environment vetoed an interview request on toxins in fur-bearing animals in the oilsands, even though the federal scientist was "media trained and interested in doing the interview."

The Environment Canada scientist in question, Philippe Thomas, had asked members of the Alberta Trappers Association to send him samples of fur-bearing animals caught across Alberta in 2012. Thomas needed a broad range of samples to gain deeper insight into the contaminant load in animals living near the oilsands.

Harper’s gutter politics is for the bird(watchers)

Thank God Stephen Harper has got those agitating birdwatchers under control!

Next to librarians working on Parliament Hill, they could be most subversive group in the land, battle-ready what with their knowledge of the outdoors and all that binocular experience.

This week, Dean Beeby of the CBC reported that the Harper government’s revenue collectors have put a small group of nature lovers on notice that the CRA is watching them.

The revenuers have apparently found evidence of partisan “political activity” on the bird-watchers’ website. If it continues, the CRA warns, these nature agitators could be facing further action, including a “future audit.”

New report documents federal clampdown on scientists' freedom of expression

In February 2012, the scientific journal Nature published an editorial opinion piece, Frozen Out, calling on the Canadian government to reform policies that restrict media access to federal scientists. This followed numerous stories documenting delays and confusion in how different federal departments respond to requests for media interviews on scientific matters.

How has the Harper government reacted? A new report, Can Scientists Speak, finds that federal media policies remain far more restrictive than those in the United States, and gives low to failing grades to nearly all 16 departments that employ scientists.

Foreign scientists call on Stephen Harper to restore science funding, freedom

Hundreds of scientists around the world are asking Prime Minister Stephen Harper to end "burdensome restrictions on scientific communication and collaboration faced by Canadian government scientists."

The call was made in an open letter drafted by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that represents U.S. scientists and uses science to advocate for environmental sustainability.

• Read the full letter

Stephen Harper government muzzles top general on eve of retirement

Lt.-Gen. Jon Vance becomes responsible for all Canadian troops deployed at home and abroad during a handover ceremony to take place Tuesday afternoon in Ottawa.

The outgoing leader of Canadian Joint Operations Command (CJOC) is Lt.-Gen. Stu Beare. Both he and Vance served with distinction in Afghanistan — Vance during two combat tours in Kandahar and Beare with NATO in Kabul.

Beare was muzzled by the Harper government a couple of weeks ago, preventing him from talking to journalists about the challenges that CJOC and Canada face during this period of global tumult. The general deserved better than this parting order after 36 years of service. During his Afghan and CJOC years he has been responsible for the lives of thousands of Canadians in dangerous places, as well as for spending billions of dollars.

16 Government Officials Involved In One Request To Interview Scientist Max Bothwell

VANCOUVER - It was a story about rock snot.

And if there's a person you want to talk to about the pervasive algae also known by the less-offensive, more scientific name of Didymo, it's Fisheries and Oceans Canada scientist Max Bothwell.

Bothwell is, other scientists will tell you, the rock snot man. He wrote the book. Or in this case, co-authored a published article in a renowned scientific journal.

But a request from The Canadian Press to speak to Bothwell when the article was published in May failed to produce an interview.

Alberta energy regulator shutting off discussions, critics say

Critics say Albertans are in danger of being shut out of discussions on how the province's natural resources are developed.

Expert observers and opposition politicians worry Alberta's new energy regulator is drawing the circle of who can speak so tightly that one hearing on a proposed energy project had to be cancelled because no one was allowed to appear.

Government muzzles expert witnesses on major citizenship bill

Citizenship advocates Don Chapman and Melynda Jarratt are fuming after seeing what they call a flagrant violation of the democratic process in Parliament unfold before their eyes.

Just moments before they were set to testify before the Citizen and Immigration committee on Monday, Conservative caucus member Ted Opitz  motioned to close the meeting to the public, preventing them from speaking on bill C-24, An Act to amend the Citizenship Act.

Harper government attacks non-profits to muzzle dissent

When you donate to a Canadian non-profit organization, with or without charitable status, did you know that your donor dollars may be used in the latest attack by the Harper government against its critics?

According to fundraising and direct mail campaign expert Harvey McKinnon, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is using the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) as his own personal attack dog. "By publicly identifying and throwing suspicion on seven non-profits that are active on environmental issues, the federal government is trying to silence all other organizations that work on these issues … silence any non-profit that advocates for social change."

Ottawa’s Minister of State for Science downplays criticism

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The Harper government continues to face criticism over their handling of science resources and scientists in general. But the politician in charge of science is brushing off claims Ottawa has prevented scientists from speaking about their work — or worse.

A survey conducted by the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada found 34 per cent of over 4000 federal scientists asked feel they’re being prevented from talking to media or the public about their work, and said 24 per cent said they have been asked by the government to alter their findings for non-scientific reasons.

MPs' Staff Asked To Sign Lifetime Confidentiality Agreements

A proposed lifetime gag order for employees of members of Parliament that would restrict their ability to share information — and stifle the kind of whistleblowing that led to some of the revelations in the Senate scandal — is triggering alarm among Parliament Hill staff, according to a union representing some of the workers.

Hill journalists were sent a grainy photo of the new agreement last week from "Nanker Phelge," a pseudonymous email account that appears to have been set up by a Hill staffer unhappy over the change in policy.

Who gets muzzled next by unconstitutional Redford Government laws? Environmentalists?

Now that the Redford Government's unconstitutional attack on free collective bargaining and free speech is in full swing, we have to ask ourselves who’s next?

Environmentalists?

Quite possibly.

I mean, who else would they like to shut up right now as much as they want to muzzle those pesky public sector unions -- which are always noisily defending public services Alberta Premier Alison Redford's government would really prefer to privatize?