Environment Canada scientists told to toe the line
Environment Canada has "muzzled" its scientists, ordering them to refer all media queries to Ottawa where communications officers will help them respond with "approved lines."
The new policy, which went into force in recent weeks and sent a chill through the department research divisions, is designed to control the department's media message and ensure there are no "surprises" for Environment Minister John Baird and senior management when they open the newspaper or turn on the television, according to documents obtained by Canwest News Service.
Alright - that's enough political interference in government operations. The message is clear enough, and the consequences are potentially frightening. Not only does this call into question the validity of anything that comes out of any arm of the government, it unequivocally demonstrates that Harper's government is utterly unable and unprepared to deal with anything other than a talking point of their own invention.
This is not "accountable" government, it is the political equivalent of what comes out of the back end of a cow.
Whatever reservations I may have about a Federal and a Provincial election running concurrently in Alberta are rapidly being outweighed by the repeated demonstrations of political interference and control being exercised from the PMO.
2 comments:
When will we be asked to don the black armbands or the yellow triangles?
I fear that's the next step after muzzling researchers who might say something inconvenient to a political agenda.
Brrr.... Awfully cold in Canada these days.
While I'm reluctant to use analogies to late 1930's Germany, this particular government does seem disturbingly preoccupied with ensuring that the agencies of government blindly speak in step with their dogma.
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