CAJ Code of Silence Award nominees announced

Stephen Harper leads the nominations for the Canadian Association of Journalists’ (CAJ) 2009 Code of Silence Award for the second year in a row, the CAJ has announced.

Journalists from across Canada nominated Harper and his government this year for “muzzling civil servants and cabinet ministers, blackballing reporters who pose tough questions and building a huge spin machine designed to staunch the flow of information.”

The Harper government was “the hands-down winner” in 2008.

Other nominees include:

• Fort Erie’s Economic Development and Tourism Corporation
• Canada’s human rights commissions, federal and provincial
• The RCMP, its partner organization the Canadian Police Research Centre and police forces across Canada
• The Yukon government
• Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
• Alberta’s Ministry of Children and Youth Services
• The Ontario government
• The Canadian Food Inspection Agency

The 2009 Code of Silence Award will be handed out at the CAJ’s gala award
ceremony Saturday, May 23 in Vancouver.