Canadian Scientist Muzzled For Writing And Performing Song About Canadian Government Muzzling Scientists
from the Harperman-meets-Streisand-Effect dept
Techdirt has been following for a while the Canadian government's unabashed attempts to muzzle scientists and librarians who work for the state, as it tries to deny them the right to express their views if those happen to disagree with the Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political agenda. That battle over freedom of speech is not only continuing, but escalating according to this story in The Globe and Mail:
An Environment Canada scientist is under investigation for allegedly breaching the public service code of ethics by writing and performing a political song that criticizes the Harper government.
Tony Turner, a physical scientist who most recently was working on a study of migratory birds, has been put on administrative leave with pay over allegations that his participation in his song Harperman puts him in a conflict of interest, the union representing him said.
Turner's song, with its opening lines "Who controls our parliament? Harperman, Harperman. Who squashes all dissent? Harperman, Harperman," and a refrain of "It's time for you to go," is pretty mild stuff. A former head of the Ontario Public Service defended the government's actions as follows:
The public sector's ethics code states that federal public servants are expected to "[carry] out their duties in accordance with legislation, policies and directives in a non-partisan and impartial manner." Mr. Dean said the non-partisan nature of the public service offers protection that goes both ways: It prevents government officials from pressing public servants to act in partisan interests, and public servants make a commitment to do their jobs regardless of the political stand of the government of the day.
For one thing, it's not the case that the ethics code "prevents government officials from pressing public servants to act in partisan interests". As a BBC story on the muzzling of Canadian scientists reported:
The [media] protocol requires that all interview requests for scientists employed by the government must first be cleared by officials. A decision as to whether to allow the interview can take several days, which can prevent government scientists commenting on breaking news stories.
That's not allowing scientists to speak in a "non-partisan and impartial manner": the "media protocol" is clearly designed to cow government scientists and to ensure that they toe the official line in everything they say, regardless of what the science may indicate.
Sources say that requests are often refused and when interviews are granted, government media relations officials can and do ask for written questions to be submitted in advance and elect to sit in on the interview.
But the other point is that Turner was not performing his Harperman song as a government employee, but as a citizen -- he is described on the YouTube page as an "Ottawa folksinger", and there is no reference anywhere to his work as a government scientist.
Of course, the great thing about the Canadian government's absurd overreaction to this gentlest of private protests is that many more people will now learn that Turner is an environmental scientist who is being muzzled by a bunch of desperate control freaks who are frightened that the Canadian people might be told the truth about important scientific issues. Thank goodness for the Streisand Effect….
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Filed Under: candada, harperman, stephen harper, streisand effect, tony turner
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Since singing youtube songs, voting and such are not part of his duties as government scientists, they shouldn't have to be done in a non-partisan manner. Harper is just being an ass and abusing his power as usual
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Fixed it for you.
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As a Canadian, i hate this guy, hes such a tool, i find it really hard to believe he has managed to hold on to PM for as long as he has, even everyone i know would rather this guy would never win re-election, but some how he does.
NDP seem to be doing pretty good this time round, lets hope they can come out on top in a couple months!!!
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First time he had majority mandate, and he's tanked his party's support.
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I'm a "bloody yank" and that's been my opinion for a couple of decades in our elections!
We really need to get our shit together and get a "none of the above" option for our elections.
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A few weeks after the election, he received a letter from the candidate he had normally always voted for, asking him why he had changed his vote.
Canadian Election methodology was the model upon which the current American Election process was designed.
Canadian voting has been a fraudulent process, designed primarily to make Canadians think they had a say in the way their government operated, almost since that country's beginning.
If Voting actually worked to insure good government, it would be illegal.
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Heil Harper
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but you had better not inform him of such
because you will be reprimanded.
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which country was the instigator of introducing government surveillance on it's own people? why did it start and was there ever any consideration of what the outcome would be? the excuse, i am sure, was the usual one, 'In the name of Terrorism'. but what has actually happened is the various governments have taken the place of the terrorists but upped the anti 4 fold! there's no need for any terrorist actions, the governments are doing them, only more so, for them! the ridiculous thing being it's us, the ordinary public, who gets hit, whatever the scenario is!
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But damn if the USA isn't giving the Russians a run for their money nowadays (at least in terms of surveillance on citizens).
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I think that technically this is incorrect. The amount of surveillance the average US citizens is subjected to dwarfs what the USSR even thought possible.
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Kind of weird some leaders aspire to be a dictator so much they will destroy their wealthy country so that all the power and money is in the hands of a select few instead of most of the country. The end result is a much poorer nation for everyone, including those that now wield god like power over the rights of their fellow citizens
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Oh Really?
If that puts him in a conflict of interest, then I think it's the OTHER side of the coin that requires deeper examination.
What is the other interest that requires him to not satirize the current PM? After all, satirizing the PM is a Canadian pasttime. Is he currently employed by the Conservative party? Not by the government, but by the Conservative party? If not, then what is Harper doing that causes any possible conflict of interest here?
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Voting?
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Re: Voting?
Your problem is you're using the regular, 'normal' definition of 'non-partisan', that of 'balanced and not biased towards or against a particular party', whereas the government is clearly using another definition, that of 'In favor of the party in charge, no matter which it is'.
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Re: Voting?
One votes Secretly.
By having a "secret" ballot, it is impossible to know if anyone in that country actually voted, or if anyone in that country had their vote actually counted.
Its why we still allow voting after all.
But it also means that one can vote partisan, because one's vote does not carry one's ID, so nobody is supposed to be able to tell that you even voted, or not, let alone that you voted partisan, or not.
Since there is no possible way to prove that all the votes are counted, or that all the counted votes are real, none of the authorities of any "voting nation" really gives a shit how anyone votes - partisan or not.
Its a non-issue.
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Oh, Canada...
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The PM did not react well to news the song has gone viral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhOvXoIox7Y
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And on American side
What happened to a government scientist whose findings stood in the way of big oils
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