EDMONTON - Opposition politicians are raising concerns over a report done for Alberta's energy regulator that suggests doctors are reluctant to draw links between health problems and the energy industry.
"We do have a culture in this province which actively diminishes healthy and important debate about the health and environmental effects of our dominant industry," NDP critic Rachel Notley said Monday.
David Swann, a Liberal member of the legislature, said the government doesn't even want to know the truth.
"It's clear the government doesn't really want to know the best science in some of these areas," said Swann, who lost his job as a public health doctor for speaking out on climate change during the Tory government of Ralph Klein. "They haven't funded it, and they haven't disseminated the knowledge appropriately to the physician population."
On Tuesday, a hearing is set to begin in Peace River, Alta., about the source and effects of odours that landowners blame on the local oilpatch, particularly the operations of Baytex Energy.  MORE