A day after the Globe and Mail publishing scathing criticisms of Public Health Canada outlined by two top doctors, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is blaming former prime minister Stephen Harper.
Trudeau said it’s Harper’s budget-cutting that left the agency short of money and cutting back on scientific liaisons that would have led to early warning on COVID-19 and better stockpiles of personal protective equipment.
Trudeau acknowledged problems at the Public Health Agency but said “We all knew that under the previous Conservative government there were massive cuts to science, there was marginalization of scientific voices, there was a putting-aside of experts in an attempt to cut the budget, cut the deficit at all costs, on the backs of Canadians.”
He said his government has done much to restore funding for science, but apparently not for Public Health Canada.
Perry Kendall, who preceded Bonnie Henry as B.C.'s provincial health officer from 1999 to 2018, and Paul Gully, who filled senior roles at Health Canada for 14 years and was a former deputy chief public-health officer, spoke out this week and cuts at the agency and called on the government to address the structural problems.
