Civil service boss to run fish farm research review
Premier John Horgan put the head of the civil service in charge of an investigation into provincial fish farm research Wednesday, removing the case from the political hands of his agriculture minister after several days of controversy.
Horgan appointed Don Wright, his deputy minister, to oversee a review of the B.C. Animal Health Centre and, specifically, its research into fish health and fish farms, to “ensure we have integrity in our system,” the premier said Wednesday.
The move comes after Agriculture Minister Lana Popham faced continued questions for her political involvement in launching the investigation.
Popham told Postmedia News last week it was focused on First Nations concerns over provincial fish pathologist Gary Marty, who has published research refuting the harm of fish farms. Then, she switched to say it was a review of concerns over the scientific data produced by the animal health lab, prompted by a complaint by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. DFO released a statement Tuesday saying it had not filed an official complaint. Then, DFO scientist Kristi Miller said she had unofficially expressed her concerns to Popham during a phone call, accusing Marty of conflict of interest.
“This is not about Dr. Marty, it is about the lab and how the federal government views the work of that lab,” said Horgan. “I’m confident Don Wright will get to the bottom of this completely.”
The government said in a statement the review will focus on the “formal policies and procedures at the Animal Health Centre to determine if best practices and ethical standards are followed, including protecting against potential conflicts of interest,” as well as whether those policies are consistently followed and enforced.
Horgan also said he’s confident the review will comply with new guidelines brought in after the wrongful firings of eight health researchers in 2012, which set clear policies on how civil servants must be treated during an investigation to give them fair process and protect against political interference.
Horgan said the government needed to act after last week’s CTV W5 broadcast quoted Miller expressing concerns that Marty was in a conflict over research he’d conducted with the fish farm industry. “I’m assuming those views were held by the federal government,” Horgan said.
DFO issued a statement Wednesday that reiterated Miller’s concerns are not the agency’s official position.
“The department is aware of Dr. Kristi Miller’s concerns and professional opinion and is following up with both Dr. Miller and the province on this matter,” read the statement.
“The department believes in letting our scientists speak freely about their research. For decision making purposes, DFO is guided by science advice that is the product of peer-review processes that capture the consensus opinion of contributing scientists.”
Popham faced questions in the legislature Wednesday about whether she misled the house with her shifting explanations. “Somebody has intentionally or unintentionally misled this house about an investigation that does not exist,” said interim Liberal leader Rich Coleman.
Popham told media she’d done nothing wrong in any part of her handling of the file. “I’ve never misled the house,” said Popham. “I had conversations with Dr. Miller regarding her concerns, the ones that were raised on W5. For me that’s an alarm bell. When that is being broadcast across the entire country, statements bringing our lab into question, the thing you would do in any case around a lab is to make sure it’s not happening.”