Article content

When Justin Trudeau created a new science portfolio in cabinet, and appointed a former academic as the minister, observers hailed the move as a sign of renewed respect for empirical study.

But barely a week after the swearing-in, some critics are questioning the prime minister’s choice for the post, an MP whose history with scientists is turbulent.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Trudeau's new science minister Kirsty Duncan was advocate of controversial and largely disproven MS treatment Back to video

A geographer by training, Kirsty Duncan contributed to the UN climate-change panel that won a Nobel peace prize. More controversially, she has also vigorously promoted an unproven medical treatment, clashed publicly with some of the world’s top virus experts, and repeatedly warned of a “darker side” to science replete with power politics and resistance to change.

Duncan won kudos for organizing an expedition in the late 1990s to find frozen samples of the 1918 flu, then flak for what some colleagues and journalists called a glory-hogging and sanctimonious leadership style.