Comrade Steve is a Real Bastard, Harper PMO Compared to KGB

Scientific research is supposed to be peer reviewed.  For federal government scientists, however, their research is politically reviewed first to make sure it conforms to Comrade Harper's rancid ideology.

U Vic professor and climate scientist Andrew Weaver denounces Harper government policies cracking down on scientists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans as "reminiscent of the Cold War era, with the KGB in Russia … George Orwell would just be chuckling in his grave.”

Under revised Fisheries and Oceans Canada rules, scientists working in its central and Arctic region cannot be involved in publishing research until a DFO division administrator has reviewed it “for any concerns/impacts to DFO policy.”

That amounts to censoring scientific findings, says Jim Turk, Canadian Association of University Teachers executive director.

“The federal government wants to control what scientists do and what they find and how it’s reported. They want to suppress findings that can be seen as being against their political objectives,” Turk said.

A letter written to Harper Thursday on behalf of the 68,000 CAUT members expresses “deep dismay and anger at your government’s attack on the independence, integrity and academic freedom of scientific researchers.”

Demands from DFO that foreign researchers sign restrictive agreements have upset Andreas Muenchow, a University of Delaware oceanographer who has collaborated with Canadian scientists on Arctic research.

In a blog posting Muenchow wrote: “I believe this is a disturbing political climate change … I feel that it threatens my academic freedom and potentially muzzles my ability to publish data.”

The policy is substantially different from the 2003 Canadian government agreement, he wrote.

Rick Kool, Royal Roads University associate professor in the school of environment and sustainability, said the clampdown illustrates the government’s control-the-message mindset.

“They are moving toward a managed democracy where people get to vote every few years and the winning party rules, not governs. When you see yourself as a ruler, you can ignore science and data,” he said.

“There’s a shackling of science when it doesn’t give convenient answers and doesn’t serve the political interest.”

Stephen Harper is a warped bastard, a first-class son of a bitch, but so is everybody who supports him and empowers him to do this to Canada and our people.

Weaver Slams Harper - Again

It wasn't a large protest rally, just 200 people in the crowd, but the message was loud and clear - Harper must stop gagging Canadian scientists.

On hand at the Victoria protest were U. Vic climate scientist, Andrew Weaver, and Green Party leader, Elizabeth May.

"We used to laugh about what was happening to science in the George W. Bush era. It pales in comparison to what is going on in Canada now," [Weaver] said. "Science is happening behind closed doors and is only made public if it fits with the government's agenda."

Canadians can no longer see the science behind climate change, fisheries and marine pollution, Weaver said, but government is pushing anything that helps oil and gas extraction, especially in the Arctic.

He said even the Arctic search for the Franklin Expedition would benefit oil and gas exploration through sea-floor mapping.

At the same time, the government has closed the Polar Environment Arctic Research Laboratory, which provided valuable climate and environmental information, Weaver said.

While Weaver said it was his duty to speak out on behalf of junior colleagues who had lost funding, another scientist spoke disguised by a false beard and sunglasses, saying he could face financial and legal problems if identified.

The Fisheries and Oceans marine contaminants program at the Institute of Ocean Sciences was drastically cut earlier this year and the scientist said Canada had lost the ability to look at the effects of pollutants in B.C. waters.