Journalists in Canada have complained that the federal government is muzzling its scientists, making it very difficult to get answers and interviews about publicly funded research conducted within government departments.

But what's really happening behind the scenes? Tom Spears, science reporter at the Ottawa Citizen, filed an access to information request to find out what happened after he asked Canada's National Research Council for an interview with a scientist about a joint NRC-NASA study about how snow falls.

He told CBC's As It Happens what he discovered in the 50 pages of NRC emails he received.