Prime Minister Stephen Harper sharply rebuked Environment Canada bureaucrats last year for overstepping their authority, but internal documents suggest they were just doing their jobs.

Mr. Harper’s annual Arctic tour in August 2011 was embarrassed when a first nations group issued a news release saying the federal government had suspended water-quality sampling at 21 sites in the North.

Speaking in Haines Junction, Yukon, the Prime Minister quickly doused the controversy by saying the move was “not authorized” and that Environment Minister Peter Kent had ordered water sampling to resume once he found out about it.

more: Environment minister knew about shutdown of NWT water monitoring stations, documents show – The Globe and Mail.