Federal government moves to strip power from top public health scientist

Buried in the current omnibus budget bill being studied by Parliament this week is a plan to demote the Chief Public Health Officer of Canada. He will no longer hold a deputy minister rank, he will have no direct line to the federal minister of health, he will be subservient to a bureaucratic agency president and he will have no secure public funding.

The new Chief Public Health Officer has said he is in favour of this plan, as shrugging off managerial oversight for the Public Health Agency will free him to provide scientific advice. That may be so, but will anybody be listening? Will he even be allowed to speak?

Federal government hasn't filled top doctor's job, 15 months later

Canadians has been without a chief federal public health officer for 15 months, while a renowned federal microbiology lab has now gone six months without a leader.

Critics say the government’s tardiness in filling the two key posts – the first vacated in 2013 by Dr. David Butler-Jones, the second held until earlier this year by Dr. Frank Plummer –  is because the Conservatives have undercut the independence and pay of each role, making it difficult to attract the right candidates.