When thousands gathered on Parliament Hill Sept. 22 to protest Liberal gun control plans, health minister Allan Rock might have allowed himself a small, smug smile.
This time, it wasn’t his problem.
The last time these protesters gathered to rage against vague rumors of Liberal plans to confiscate guns and disarm Canadians, Rock was their target. As justice minister, it was his problem then.
This year as health minister, he has to struggle with some very tough issues – compensation for Hepatitis C victims, demands for more medicare money, worries about declining health services and pressures for private medicine.
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Even as health minister, contentious rural issues continue to follow him like a curse. He seems uncertain how to deal with them.
In health, Rock inherited two trouble spots – the Pest Management Regulatory Agency and the Health Protection Branch, which assesses new drug and food products.
Both have been under attack by their critics. He has dithered and appeared slow to apply himself to the controversy.
Since he has no political instinct for rural issues, he seems to depend on the cautious and self-serving advice of bureaucrats when decisive political action could help to build confidence in both crucial programs.
The uproar in the health protection branch of Health Canada is the best example. The place is a mess.
Morale is low, staff has been cut, scientists are alleging political and corporate influence in what drugs and food products are approved and the credibility of the bureau’s work is plummeting.
Critics like the Council of Canadians are calling for an investigation of whether the government is putting Canadian health at risk in the interests of being friendly with big business.
Canada’s veterinary lobby has called for action to make the bureau of veterinary drugs more efficient.
In Parliament, the NDP is going to lead the charge this autumn in demanding a public inquiry into the branch.
Through it all, Rock has seemed almost oblivious to the turmoil.
He has denied critics’ charges that scientific judgment is being undermined by a commercial ideology. He has launched a public consultation. He has not tackled the controversy head on.
More dramatic leadership is needed. Rock must confront the critics and their increasingly damning evidence.
Either there is a problem and it should be fixed, or the critics are making it up and they should be exposed.
Every week that goes by with more evidence of the turmoil makes the critics seem more credible.
Though less dramatic, Rock’s hands-off approach to complaints about the PMRA follows a similar pattern.
It is an organization troubled by continued farmer complaints about high costs and inefficiencies. A consultant’s report last week supported some of the complaints. So far, Rock has given no indication he understands how frustrated farmers are with the agency and how big an issue this is in the countryside.
