The Food Professor - Canada's expert on food policy OR disgraced former-professor with questionable history of harassment and extreme social views?

While Sylvain Charlebois holds a prominent platform as a food policy commentator (63.3K followers on his X account), often quoted by Global News on Canadian food trends, his pattern of conduct and conflicts raises serious questions about his objectivity and reliability as a neutral expert.

For one, he has a documented history of workplace midconduct. He resigned as Dean of Dalhousie's Faculty of Management in 2018 following a university investigation into complaints of harassment and bullying. While the details are confidential, this outcome alone merits scrutiny of his professional behaviour.

There are potential corporate ties and hints of big-industry funding his work. His analysis frequently aligns with grocery industry interests without full transparency. He has received grant funding from the Weston Foundation, linked to Loblaws, a major retailer he often comments on. His private consulting company also services the agri-food industry, creating a potential conflict between his academic pronouncements and private client interests.

His flagship Canada's Food Price Report was peer-reviewed and found to be "scientifically incomplete" for failing to adequately factor in climate change and corporate decision-making. His critiques of carbon pricing analyses have been challenged by other experts for overlooking rebates and overstating supply chain impacts.

He has publicly labeled critics of his carbon tax analysis an "intellectual C-tax mob" and blamed "the so-called 'woke' movement" for influencing policy, language that undermines scholarly debate and suggests an ideological, rather than evidence-based, stance.

Charlebois's combination of industry links, criticized methodologies, a serious prior workplace investigation, and use of polarizing rhetoric should disqualify him from being presented as a neutral academic source. Media outlets should apply rigorous scrutiny to his commentary and ensure they balance his views with experts free of such conflicts and conduct.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.