Premier Doug Ford, I’m concerned for your government.

I know you feel it too. Last week, one year into your mandate and faced with sharply declining polls after your first provincial budget, you conducted a major cabinet shuffle. This shuffle is clearly an attempt to “put the right people in the right place at the right time” and improve the outcomes of your cabinet. But I’m still concerned.

Since your election, your caucus has made many bold decisions. Unfortunately, it seems many are Ontarians unhappy with most of these decisions, and I’m not sure the current shuffle is enough to fix this.

Let’s talk about climate. Just last week, in light of evidence demonstrating that our national climate is warming at twice the global rate, Canada declared a climate emergency. Climate change is increasingly evident in Ontario (you’ll recall that, just this April, we experienced some of the worst flooding the province has ever seen).

Yet last summer your government axed several environmental and climate strategies, including the Climate Change Mitigation and Low Carbon Economy Act, the cap and trade program, and electricity conservation programs. Although your new “Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan” attempts to address climate issues, it lacks the ambition, detail and rigour required for a good climate strategy.

In November, you cut several Ontario environmental watchdogs, including the Environmental Commissioner, an independent auditor providing non-partisan advice and oversight. Not only did this role ensure our province was held accountable to meeting requirements on reducing emissions and improving conservation, it helped inform the public about environmental issues.

In February, your government proposed new, potentially damaging changes to the Endangered Species Act, drawing ire from the environmental community. Also, your first budget cut $162 million in funding from the Ministry of Natural Resources and $351.8 million from Environment Conservation and Parks, a potential slash towards environmental initiatives.

I’m worried about the health of Ontarians, too. In March, despite significant evidence supporting the role of harm reduction in reducing the impact of addiction and substance abuse, you quietly withdrew funding to a number of safe injection sites across the province. In May, you reversed a funding agreement to a sexual assault crisis centre. In June, an “overhaul” to your healthcare system cut more than 800 jobs and laid off over 400 employees.

And what about research? In May, your government announced it would scrap funding for the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a centre conducting stem cell research to treat incurable disease. Other research organizations got cuts, too, like the Gairdner Foundation, the Structural Genomics Consortium and two important Artificial Intelligence research centres.

In addition, your budget cut $185.5 million from the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, which oversees several important Ontario research funds, and though no explicit cuts have been noted, this could have implications for fundamental research in the future.

Ontarians are unhappy, Premier Ford.

With your newly shuffled cabinet, you’ve got a fresh arsenal of tools to address these challenges. And it’s true: new people in new roles can help you make the best possible decisions in the face of adversity.

But I think you’re missing someone.

What about a Chief Scientist?

It isn’t a radical idea. Actually, you used to have one. Ontario’s first Chief Scientist, Dr. Molly Shoichet, was appointed to advise the government on science policy and champion science and innovation for Ontario. However, when your government was elected, you fired Dr. Shoichet within the first week.

It’s been a year, and so far we haven’t seen any attempts to fill this vacant position.

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Take a look at these problems; they’re linked by a similar thread. In many cases, your decisions didn’t reflect the most up-to-date scientific evidence. Good decisions require good advice and strong evidence. Just the sort of advice that a Chief Scientists is positioned to provide.

So while you’re taking stock and changing up positions, my recommendation is to re-hire a qualified Chief Scientist for Ontario to help ensure that your decisions are based on the best available evidence to benefit all Ontarians.

Kimberly Girling is Research and Policy Director of Evidence for Democracy.

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