A top federal scientist says he sees reasons for optimism after the first week under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.
Jake Rice, Chief Scientist at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, told CTV Power Play that the new ministers are, so far, “doing the right things.”
Rice was able to give the interview without seeking permission. Under the Conservatives, he said he would have been required to send the interview request to a communications official who, more likely than not, would have gotten back to him with a yes or no decision “after it ceased to be news.”
He also said the new ministers are “asking the right questions (and) giving thoughtful answers that show they’ve been listening to the briefings.”
“They’re not making impetuous decisions,” he added.
The Conservatives were often accused of “muzzling” scientists by preventing them from giving interviews. Trudeau promised to change that.
Rice said taxpayer-funded research his department produced under the previous government, such as a review of ways to reduce climate change, was sometimes “incompletely presented” to the public.
But with 35 years of experience in the public service, Rice said ministers giving incomplete views of scientists’ work is nothing new.
He said he had a similar experience when he worked in Newfoundland and Labrador before the cod fishery was closed.
“Same thing there,” he said. “It was a selective release of information so public policy debate was only incompletely informed. What was released was correct and accurate; what wasn’t released was often quite germane to the discussion.”
Rice stressed it has only been a week under the new government and it is therefore too soon to see big policy changes, but “we’re all optimistic.”
