Conservative MP Candice Bergen responds during question period in the House of Commons 2013. (Photo: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press) A former Conservative minister chastised the federal government on Wednesday, saying new mechanisms in the pipeline review process will leave decision-making to Liberals rather than “scientists and by evidence.” Candice Bergen, the Opposition critic for natural resources, made the comments after the government announced all resource projects will be evaluated by projected greenhouse gas emission levels and after consultation of indigenous communities. At an Ottawa press conference, Bergen lambasted the Liberal process for taking decisions “out of the hands of experts and arms-length bodies and really centralizing it in the prime minister’s office.” The Manitoba MP said that will “absolutely” give way for “a lot” of political interference. “So our first look at this is it’s not positive,” Bergen said. “It’s unfortunately a trend that seems to be very, very quickly developing with this government.”

Conservative MP Candice Bergen passes cameras on the way to Conservative caucus in Ottawa in November 2015. (Photo: Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) Bergen served in the cabinet of Stephen Harper, who was condemned by domestic and international scientists for muzzling civil servants and slashing funding. On Wednesday, she claimed the Liberal changes will prioritize politics over scientific reason. “It looks like a lot of room for political decision-making by this government as opposed to decisions by scientists and by evidence,” she said, before taking a swipe at Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr. “The minister of natural resources, who should be, I believe, a champion and cheerleader for Canadian natural resources, has absolutely abdicated that role,” said Bergen. “The minister of natural resources, who should be, I believe, a champion and cheerleader for Canadian natural resources, has absolutely abdicated that role.” —Candice Bergen, Tory MP She added Carr has “basically become the minister ... and assistant to the minister of climate change, and has kind of forgotten what it means to be the minister of natural resources.” Bergen, however, failed to acknowledge how the former government made amendments to the country’s laws that made environmental assessments no longer a mandatory requirement with project proposals under review. The changes, introduced in Bill C-38, became law in 2012. Tories now want ‘science-based’ perspective Debate over the Trans Mountain and Energy East pipelines has sparked renewed political attention over the approval process for Canadian natural resource projects amid plummeting oil prices. But Bergen isn’t the first Conservative this week to attempt to reuse, recycle, and redirect the “war on science” argument against the current Liberal government. On Monday, interim party leader Rona Ambrose accused the Liberals of abandoning science, specifically in acknowledging advancements made to pipeline safety technologies. Ambrose urged Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre to consider a “science-based” perspective in his "unfortunate" opposition against the proposed Energy East pipeline.