Quote:
Originally Posted by mykalberta
I would think taxpayer funded scientists are employees of the government and would be under the same sort of keep your mouth shut or we will fire you policy.
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Generally speaking, it depends entirely on the position of the employee and the nature of the specific project they are working on. Ottawa doesn't have its fingers on everything or everyone, but exerts influence where it chooses. Some federal employees have free rein, while others don't. Where scientists are concerned it can be complicated: the scientific process benefits from peer review and open criticism, but there are state secrets as would be the case with most military research for example.