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Scientists serve people, not government

Re: “Government scientists are employees,” May 22. The opinion piece by Lawrie McFarlane supporting the muzzling of Canadian scientists seemed so unbelievable that I had to read it again to see if I had misread it. Sadly, I had not.
Re: “Government scientists are employees,” May 22.

The opinion piece by Lawrie McFarlane supporting the muzzling of Canadian scientists seemed so unbelievable that I had to read it again to see if I had misread it. Sadly, I had not.

Maybe I have missed something, but my understanding has always been that government scientists are employed by and serve the people of Canada and not the Harper government and whoever funds them.

Our scientists are the eyes, ears and conscience of our relationship with our world and in no way should their findings be screened, hijacked, rewritten or censored for political purposes by those who have an interest in promoting preconceived notions of what constitutes scientific fact.

This subversion of science seems like the relationship that Galileo had with the powers of his day and is not an acceptable practice in a healthy-functioning democracy.

Bruce Paul

Victoria