(Photo: Charles LeBlanc)
Friends of UNB Woodlot member, Mark D'Arcy, says his organization is frustrated by the lack of engagement with the public on the shale gas issue by the provincial government. The group's requests for information have gone unanswered, leading D'Arcy to conclude a 'gag order' has been imposed by Natural Resources and Environment officials, circumventing the public's right to information about shale gas.
"I've been waiting to hear from Natural Resources for quite a while...I had to physically go to Environment and talk to two engineers about the issue [after calls and e-mails weren't returned]," he said.
D'Arcy was also upset no one from Natural Resources appeared at the city's Public Safety meeting at city hall yesterday. The city has been asking for DNR officials to make a presentation of it's information on shale gas to the committee, however, two meetings have gone by with no response from DNR.
"Why is no one from DNR here?" he said.
D'Arcy's comments come on the heels of sentiments expressed by some in the provincial media over the weekend, who said the Alward government has shut it's doors to their inquiries on various issues in the province.
presentation of its information, not it's.
ReplyDeleteshut its door, not it's.
There's no gag order, or none more than usual. Civil servants implement policy. If they were permitted to speak to the public, their personal opinions would be continually misconstrued as government policy announcements, which would threaten their appearance of neutrality and professionalism. This is why Departments hire people to be official spokespersons.
If government makes a decision to proceed with development of fracking, the same people will have to implement that decision as would implement it if the government decided to ban it. The civil servant's job is to give government the best advice possible, then act professionally as instructed.