The Olivieri symposium offers an opportunity to reflect on the Canadian regulatory climate and public governance. Baylis’s paper raises a concern about the Canadian bio-ethics community’s collective silence and stewardship regarding the Olivieri case.¹ A similar collective silence greeted the recent McDonald report² on research governance in Canada. The McDonald report assessed the integrity and effectiveness of research governance arrangements and concluded that serious reform was required.

Curiously, although the McDonald report was recently referred to in a Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) editorial as an example of Canadian leadership,³ it has never received an editorial commentary in the CMAJ. Nor has any article in the CMAJ ever addressed the McDonald report. Yet the CMAJ created an ethics editorship and a senior Canadian bioethicist was chosen for the position in light of the growing importance of ethics in public policy.⁴ A chapter of the McDonald report also focused on the mandate of the Canadian Medical …