Last month, some 200,000 litres of oil spilled into the North Saskatchewan River. Officials have praised Husky for its financial response to the crisis. The global energy firm has accepted full blame for the incident. It has already distributed millions of dollars to help cities and businesses cover expenses and lost revenue as a result of the leak. But critics are concerned about the amount of independent analysis of tests performed by Husky and the government.
In a feature published in the Globe and Mail on Aug. 26, 2016, Tim Jardine, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan with the Global Institute for Water Security, said he wants all the raw data from the water test results published, rather than having to rely on Husky’s broad overview. That would allow specialists such as non-governmental organizations or university scientists to analyze the tests independently.
“It increases the transparency of the process … even if not everyone [in the public] can totally understand perfectly what the numbers mean.”