Unreleased

The Gazette reports on the Cons' latest example of transparency in action, this time through a joint Canada/U.S. report on Great Lakes pollution which was only made publicly available due to a leak in the U.S.:

The suppression of a study that shows Great Lakes pollution may be a threat to the health of more than nine million people is typical of the secrecy that surrounds Canadian government environmental science, an NDP environment critic charges.

Nathan Cullen yesterday demanded in the House of Commons to know why the government has kept a recent health study on Great Lakes pollution secret...

Cullen said in an interview that the government's policy is "either to bury the research or muzzle the people involved" when it doesn't agree with scientific reports on the environment.

Cullen was referring to a story in The Gazette yesterday that revealed that the U.S. government had suppressed a study that shows there are 26 "areas of concern" around the Great Lakes where people's health is at risk from chemical and hydrocarbon pollution.

The report was prepared by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and was commissioned by the Canadian-American International Joint Commission on management of the Great Lakes.

Cullen charged that the Canadian government as a member of the IJC approved the cover-up.

The report was leaked recently to the Centre for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., and can be found on their website at www.publicintegrity.org...

(Cullen) claimed the government has suppressed since November a department of natural resources study on the effects of climate change.

"It paints a picture of climate change for Canada, and again the government sees that as political and not science," he said.

Fortunately, there's still enough public reporting being done to hold the Cons' feet to the fire on the environment.

Even if there's still ample data to show that the Cons have mangled the environmental file, though, it's clear that the Harper government is going out of its way to hide relevant information rather than allowing Canadians to put together a complete picture of the environmental issues facing the country. And for those of us who don't think that we're better off not knowing the facts, today's story offers just one more addition to the list of reasons to take the power to suppress information out of the Cons' hands.