Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to return to a question I raised on October 22 concerning a major survey of 4,000 federal government scientists, researchers and engineers.
The survey conducted by Environics indicates the extent of the climate of fear that reigns in the federal public service concerning relations between scientists and the media. The study, entitled The Big Chill, shows the scale and impact of muzzling and political interference among federal scientists since the Conservative government tightened communications rules.
One of the main findings of the survey is that 86% of federal government scientists feel they would face censure or retaliation if they talked. One in four scientists had been directly asked to exclude or alter information for reasons that have nothing to do with science. As well, 37% of scientists indicated that they had been prevented from responding to questions from the public and the media in the past five years.
Half of federal scientists say they can give examples of political interference in their scientific work that jeopardizes the health and safety of Canadians and environmental sustainability. Finally, 71% of federal scientists believe that political interference has compromised Canada's ability to develop policy, law and programs based on scientific evidence.
As we can see, this is very worrisome. Scientists have told us that often, as a result of the Conservative government's political interference in communications about science, the public is misled and Canadians' health and safety are jeopardized. This is both shocking and disturbing.
The Conservative government wants to muzzle scientists because their comments contradict the government's ideology. I believe that we should listen to the scientists. The report quotes several federal scientists.
I would like to quote some of the scientists. One person who was interviewed had this to say:
I feel that climate change scientists and oil sands scientists are the most muzzled groups, restricted by the current government in what information they can share. And if the current government does not like the results of their research, the solution is to reduce staffing.
Another scientist said:
Often there is pressure to make decisions based on pressure from industry rather than science-based/health issues.
I have a number of other quotes but, unfortunately, I do not have time to read them all. However, we know that the situation is so troubling that the Information Commissioner, Suzanne Legault, is conducting an investigation into these policies, which have been widely criticized for muzzling scientists, suppressing information that criticizes or contradicts government policy and delaying the timely communication of vital information to the media and the public.
My question for the Minister of State for Science and Technology is simple. When will he decide to stand up for science and the safety of Canadians?