A majority of scientists still muzzled under the liberals

Guillaume St-Pierre

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 09:00

UPDATE
Wednesday, February 21, 2018 09:00

Look at this article

OTTAWA-Two years after the arrival of the Trudeau government, the law of silence still reigns in the scientific federal, while a majority of them do not feel free to speak publicly about their research.

“It is unacceptable that half of the federal scientific still feel unable to exercise their right to speak freely to the media or the public of their work and the science,” said Debi Daviau, the president of the professional Institute of the public service of Canada (PIPSC).

The liberals had promised to rid scientists of the public service of their muzzles. Under the gouvernementconservateur of Stephen Harper, the researchers complained that they were not to be allowed to talk directly to reporters without the filter of the policy.

An internal survey conducted among scientists unionized public service aired Wednesday morning reveals a “netteamélioration” in the matter. But the union calls it, “mixed” the balance of Justin Trudeau.

Towards the end of the reign of Harper, 90% of the scientists were not “allowed to speak freely and without constraints to the media” of their work. Today, 53% of the researchers share this opinion.

If some researchers have regained their right to speak, others felt that “nothing has changed”.

“It is as if there had never been elections, wrote one respondent of the survey. I do say that I’m not paid to have opinions, and that I was forbidden to speak publicly.”

“A certain group of managers remains very comfortable with the strict rules of the Harper government and hangs,” noted another researcher.

This type of evidence, in fact, that the president Davian that “the law of silence imposed on the federal scientific by the anciengouvernement will take more time to really disappear.”

Survey of scientific

I know of cases where the health and safety of Canadians (or environmental sustainability) have been compromised because of political interference with our scientific work.

2013 : 50% agree

2017 : 23 % agree

Our ability to develop policies, laws and programs based on scientific evidence and facts is compromised by the interference of science.

2013 : 71 % agree

2017 : 40 % agree

The public or the media, I have asked a question that I can answer with competence, but the direction or the spécialistesdes public relations have kept me from doing so.

2013 : 37 % Yes

2017 : 20 % Yes