Political Interference

Open Canada Death Tracker Web App (developed by Dmitry Gorodnichy in 2021):

Political Interference: Now vs. Then

Political interference in the work of public servant professionals involved in food and drug regulation is not new and is well documented in Dr. Shiv Chopra’s 2009 book "Corrupt to the Core". Dr. Chopra, who lost his job defending his professional recommendation against approving bovine growth hormones for Canadian milk, highlighted these problems years ago. Despite changes in government, the situation has not significantly improved. In fact, it has worsened, particularly during the pandemic, as many professionals, myself included, have witnessed firsthand.

What has changed since Dr. Chopra’s account is the industry's  increased ability to control public opinion, including within the governments and professional unions. This is achieved through industry-funded main stream media, gaslighting (discrediting) subject matter experts, and AI-powered censorship tools that are used by global news platforms and search engines (Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.). 

The example below serves to illustrate this point. It was brought to my attention by my colleagues during the data science Lunch and Learn course that I was teaching on GCCollab in the Fall 2021 just when the  Vaccination Mandates have been imposed on all Government employees under that premise that there is  "clear evidence" that COVID-vaccines stop transmission and significantly reduce the risk of deaths and complications from COVID-19.   

As is shown below, the data never showed such evidence, however it was published by the Government of Canada in such a way as to create the perception that they do.  The data skewing techniques was used to fit the "evidence" to the desired political narrative. The professionals who observed such professional Integrity breach could not report it, because of  Fear of Reprisal.

See also :

Additional References:

Evidence: Use of data skewing techniques by Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in “Cases following vaccination” reports 

The figure below shows screenshots from two PHAC “Cases following vaccination” reports published several months apart: one is published on 2022-07-01 and another on 2022-10-21 (Follow the links to excess the archived versions of these reports).  These reports published the data evidence related to the number of COVID Cases/Hopitializatins/Deaths among Canadians who received COVID-19 vaccines.

This "evidence" was published in such as way as to fit it to the desired political narrative, showing there were many more people dying with COVID-19 among unvaccinated than among multiple-doses vaccinated, when in reality it was the opposite. This is achieved by counting the number of COVID Cases/Hopitializatins/Deaths before the vaccination commenced.

When the same data are published without politically driven manipulation - as shown in figure below, they show that in reality there were more COVID-19 deaths among four-dose vaccinated than among unvaccinated, even though the size of unvaccinated population was larger than the size of four-dose population during the considered time frame. This evidence was hidden from public and still is, as much of other evidence that went against the official political narratives. 

Conclusion

One of the most controversial policies implemented by the Government of Canada  in recent years was the Mandatory Vaccination Policy.  Canadians were led to believe that this policy was based on evidence. However, the reality—as shown here and witnessed by many professionals who must remain anonymous due to fear of reprisal—was quite the opposite: "the evidence was driven by the policy."

This misuse of our professionals' work and “science” to support specific political narratives is tragic for all Canadians. Many assume that government policies are grounded in scientific evidence, when, in fact, the opposite has often been true—particularly in recent years—where evidence has been shaped to justify existing government policies.

Union members who have witnessed such breaches of professional integrity cannot speak out for fear of reprisal. It is time for the union to advocate on their behalf. We need to introduce an "immunity against political interference" provision in the collective agreements of all professionals involved in regulating health, food, and environmental products and policies. This change is crucial to ensure that they can continue to provide fearless professional advice, which is essential for the health and well-being of all Canadians!