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Wright added he was “impressed with the professionalism, the attention to quality control and the dedication to good science that I observed during my visit.”

Deloitte concluded: “Our independent assessment of the AHC did not identify any evidence of financial or technical conflict of interest regarding the diagnostic activities of the AHC.”

The core of Popham’s concerns appeared to be a dispute between federal fish scientist, Kristi Miller, and a B.C. lab scientist, Gary Marty, over whether the B.C. lab had properly diagnosed farmed fish diseases that are a threat to wild salmon, and whether the lab’s additional work of doing fee-for-service tests for private fish companies put the lab’s science into disrepute.

The two reviews entirely dismissed those concerns. Deloitte’s report said that while a lab that does additional paid work for the private sector might appear at first glance to be a conflict “this is normal practice in almost all veterinary diagnostic laboratories across North America.”

Wright concluded: “I am not troubled by a dispute between two government scientists. At a fundamental level, this means they are doing their job.”

Photo by BRUCE STOTESBURY / TIMES COLONIST

Popham called the review “a good news story in the end” and the $100,000 cost of the review “money worthwhile spending.”

She said the government will follow the report’s nine recommendations. The recommendations in the report are prefaced by repeated statements that no wrongdoing of any kind was found.