OTTAWA Freedom of expression in Canada is not as free as it could be, according to journalists who sat on a panel at a World Press Freedom Day luncheon in Ottawa on Thursday.

Costs and delays with the Access to Information process, restrictions on government scientists talking to the media and the reluctance of politicians to engage with journalists were all issues raised on the "Is Freedom of Expression Under Siege?" panel.

Not all of the panellists answered yes, however.

"I think we have to objectively conclude that Canada is home to a free press and, frankly, a poster child to the vast majority of the world," said Yaroslav Baran of Earnscliffe Strategy Group.

Baran was director of communications in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's leadership campaign and was chief of staff to the government house leader.

Joining Baran on the panel were Kathryn O'Hara and Jeff Sallot, both award-winning journalists.

O'Hara, a science journalist, argued that limiting access to federal scientists is dangerous.

"If you don't allow people to understand and get excited about that science, you risk losing it," O'Hara said. "You risk it being pulled back. You risk it being cut back to a degree where it may disappear, bit by bit by bit."

The issue, said Sallot, is symptomatic of the larger problem of "communications management" in government.

The Harper government is "frightening the hell out of people," Sallot said.

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Freedom of expression not so free: journalists