Public health officials need to be held accountable too
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159.11282
Summary
In this episode, we talk about the need for more challenging questions to be asked of public health officials, and why they are not getting the pushback that they deserve from the opposition parties and the media. We also talk about why this is a problem, and what we can do about it.
Transcript
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Do you think that public health officials in Canada federally, provincially,
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municipally, that they are facing enough tough questions right now that they're
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getting the appropriate pushback that opposition parties are doing their job
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opposing? I don't think so at all. And that's a problem given how high the
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stakes are right now, given how public health officials across Canada have
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really more power over Canadian lives than any official has ever had in the
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history of our nation. And not only are the appropriate questions not being asked
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of them by politicians, media, and the general public, but there's a narrative
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out there that it is wrong to ask them these questions, that it is wrong to
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challenge them in any capacity, and one must not do it. Here's the thing though, we
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routinely ask questions of government officials all across the board. Yes,
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opposition parties oppose the prime minister, premiers, and so forth, that is
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their job, but also you will see at committee hearings the heads of the RCMP
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or provincial police, the heads of crown corporations like energy companies and so
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forth, the ones that are owned by the government, all these different experts,
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they routinely come before parliamentarians, before the media, the public at public
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hearings. And people throw the kitchen sink at them, they ask them questions about
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this, that, and the other, they share their opinions with them, and that's okay.
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And I think yes, even though most of us are not energy experts, we're not nuclear
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engineers, if you would like to go to some public deputation to engage with your
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local power authority, well you should be empowered to do that, and ask whatever
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question you want. So why is the attitude not the same right now with public
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health officials? It's doubly frustrating because we also know that the experts
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right now are divided. Not every public health official in the world is singing
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the same tune. They're epidemiologists at universities and private institutes who
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are, they're all divided amongst each other. They're all saying different things
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about the pandemic. That is to be expected. There's nothing wrong with that.
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There's also the idea that because hashtag we're all in this together, that's why
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you can't say anything critical. But look, the fact that you want to say, I'm not so
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sure that what Dr. Theresa Tam is doing or saying is the right thing, that that somehow
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means that you're being disrespectful of her, disrespectful of her expertise and so
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forth. No, not at all. Because the stakes are so high, everybody should feel
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empowered to have their say and to ask these questions. And quite frankly, I
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imagine these officials expect it and they should be used to it. So we need more
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challenging, more questioning of our public health officials, of all government
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officials, and don't let anybody ever tell you that that's wrong.