“Enough of the obfuscating, weaseling, dissimulation, doubletalk, verbal subterfuge, stonewalling and other distasteful conduct that hangs like a miasma over the shameful events surrounding the precipitous firing of eight Ministry of Health researchers in 2012.”
We couldn’t have said it any better. But we will add our voice to their voice and many others in this province.
The Vancouver Sun called for a public inquiry in a no-holds barred editorial on its front page last week, and good for them.
The editorial outlined the outrageous behaviour of the government after the firings. How it led taxpayers to believe that there was an ongoing RCMP investigation in an effort to avoid publicity and how it’s still attempting to either hide or mislead voters.
There can be only one reason for such behaviour. Someone has something to hide. In fact, many people may have many things to hide.
The fact that the government hoped that the more time went by, the less people would care has backfired on them in a very big way. If anything, the cries for accountability have intensified. And while the province issued a lame apology – only after the family of one of the men sacked, who later committed suicide, kept the issue front and centre – there are still too many unanswered questions. Who fired them and why is the biggest one.
Could the firings be connected to big pharmaceutical companies pressuring the government? We don’t know, but it looks like only a public inquiry will result in finding out the answers.
And, we’re not big on public inquiries. They are often very costly and very long. But when there is no simpler transparent way of finding out the truth, well let’s have one then.
Now, if B.C. had some form of whistleblower legislation, things like this might be averted.
If a government employee discovers something he or she believes is wrong, whistleblower protection may prevent the situation from snowballing. Just having the whistleblower protection may make potential wrongdoers think twice.
Manitoba, New Brunswick, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario have whistleblower legislation and a few cities, such as Vancouver, do as well. New Westminster doesn’t have whistleblower language in its collective agreements, and neither does Burnaby.
If any form of government is serious about running a transparent, healthy system, it seems like a no-brainer to have whistleblower protection.
