Scientific Results Filtered by Canadian Government
We left-leaning Americans just love Canada. To hear about their healthcare, their lower population, and the friendliness of their Canadians (so huggable!) it's easy to think of Canada as being like a copy of the USA that's had the settings tweaked, and made a little more perfect.
But some chilling news has recently drifted down from the cold north that has those of us that respect science (and I think we all should) covered in goosebumps.
In the spring, Natural Resources Canada scientists were informed that, on certain issues, they need approval from Canada's minister of natural resources, Christian Paradis, before they inform the national/international media.
In other words, instead of science going from the scientist's mouth to the ear of the public, YouTube-style, it has to be filtered through the ear of a higher power, TV-style.
This is a horrible precedent, and I hope our friendly neighbors to the north start kicking balls, and don't stop until this piece of legislation has been reversed.
Governments are, by their nature, biased, dishonest, and (whether a little or a lot) corrupt. Letting the boys upstairs decide what scientific results make it out of the lab is like letting Sony announce which games make it into E3. The science that makes it through is going to reflect the desires of the government, and the rest of the scientists end up wasting research dollars on results they have to keep quiet.
If you keep hearing people describing things like this as Orwellian, but don't get the reference, please check out 1984, by George Orwell.
The truth sometimes hurts, and if research reveals truth that may hurt the governing body, so be it. They have to accept hard facts just like any of us.
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