McLellan Blasted for “fraud, a sham and a waste of taxpayers’ money”
OTTAWA, April 15, 2002 (LSN.ca) – Dr. Alan Bernstein, President of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) is to appear before the House Health Committee Wednesday. At the meeting he will likely be asked to account for his presentation of the funding guidelines on stem cell research prior to legislation on the matter being presented in Parliament. Rob Merrifield, Official Opposition Senior Health Critic called for Berstein to appear before the committee last month saying, “Dr. Bernstein needs to explain why the CIHR pre-empted Parliament.”
James Lunney, another Alliance Health Critic, expressed outrage at the CIHR guidelines which permit funding of the destruction of human embryos for research purposes. “Will the Minister overturn this act of Parliamentary Piracy and bring in legislation post-haste?” Lunney asked in the House of Commons following the CIHR release.
While the government plans to table legislation on or before May 10, Health Minister Anne McLellan said the legislation would closely follow the CIHR guidelines. Lunney blasted the collusion between the CIHR and McLellan. “If this hijacking is allowed to proceed why should anyone bother to appear before a Parliamentary Committee? Why should Committee waste months of hearings to make informed recommendations only to be ignored? Proceeding in this manner makes the process a fraud, a sham and a waste of taxpayers’ money. The Chretien Government ought to be ashamed!” said Lunney.