Quebec’s Liberal Party is demanding an inquiry into the firing of a whistleblower at the Agriculture Ministry – but the minister responsible says he stands by his decision.
Louis Robert worked for the ministry for 32 years, until last week, when he was fired.
Agriculture Minister Andre Lamontagne said the recommendation came from within the ministry.
“Recommendations that take into account the law, takes into the sensitivity with regards to whistleblowers,” he explained.
But the Liberals say the firing looks like a reprisal, and are demanding the ombudsman launch an inquiry.
“When we are blowing the whistle, we are supposed to be protected by law,” explained Liberal MNA Gaetan Barrette.
Last year, Robert shared documents with Radio-Canada claiming private interests on the board of a grain research centre, called CEROM, had interfered with independent research about pesticides.
Cerom gets about 70 per cent of its funding from the Quebec government.
Robert’s dismissal letter says he was fired instead for transmitting a confidential document to a reporter – but even that seems to be in dispute.
“On the other hand, the Premier went against what has been written – not true, there are other issues,” Barrette added. “Well, if there are other issues, why are they not in the letter that stated that he was fired.”
There is a whistleblower law in Quebec that protects those who disclose information within their department and go to the ombudsman. It also protects those who go public if there’s an immediate health, environmental, or safety risk.
No matter how Robert disclosed the information back when the Liberals were in power, the head of Equiterre agrees with his concerns.
“It’s been pretty clear in this whole story that researchers in this organization were trying to do some good independent research on the impact of pesticides, and basically were being censored by the governance of this organization,” said Sidney Ribaux.
