B.C. premier appoints top deputy to review ‘integrity’ of fish farm testing lab

FILE: Premier-designate John Horgan. (Photo: John Horgan/Facebook)

VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan says he’s appointed his top deputy to review the “integrity” of British Columbia’s animal testing laboratory after concerns were raised about farmed salmon.

Don Wright will conduct the review following recent public comments from a federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist about disease test results on farmed salmon conducted by the province’s Animal Health Centre in Abbotsford.

Horgan says allegations were made in a media report by a federal biologist about test results on farmed Atlantic salmon and their connection to a deadly heart disease in the fish.

A B.C. government website says the Animal Health Centre is the leading accredited full-service veterinary laboratory in Western Canada, offering more than 400 laboratory diagnostic tests for agents that may be found in wild and domestic birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians.

Horgan says the public needs to have confidence in institutions that have mandates to protect public health.

The review comes as Indigenous people on northern Vancouver Island stage protests at fish farms, alleging they are affecting wild salmon stocks.