#pipsc

Members of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) are demanding changes to how the government deals with “public science,” including reinstating government scientists’ right to speak freely about their research. Despite a genteel name and image, the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC) is actually a union representing more than 55,000 “white-collar” employees in the federal government. Yet its public profile has long languished in the shadow of the three-times-larger and more militant Public Service Alliance of Canada.

Public-service unions are asking the federal government for the first time to enshrine scientific integrity language into their collective agreements. The language is intended to ensure that researchers employed by the government can speak openly about their work, publish results without fear of censorship and collaborate with peers. With contract negotiations set to resume this week, there will also be a series of demonstrations for the Ottawa area on Tuesday to focus attention on the issue. If successful, the effort could mark a precedent-setting turn in what the government’s critics portray as a struggle between intellectual independence and political prerogative.

The upcoming election is going to be the most important election for science that Canada has seen, say the NDP and Liberal science and technology critics. NDP MP Kennedy Stewart (Burnaby-Douglas, B.C.) and Liberal MP Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands, Ont.) both said they think science is set to become a bigger election issue than it has in any recent history.