UCP leadership candidates at odds over Alberta public health official pay bonuses

Several UCP leadership candidates who served in cabinet posts say they didn't know about the pandemic cash bonuses awarded to Alberta's chief medical officer of health and 106 other managers.

Leadership hopeful Travis Toews' spokesperson, Christine Myatt, said the former finance minister didn't authorize or have knowledge of a nearly $228,000 cash bonus paid to Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw in 2021.

Myatt referred further questions to the government.

Fellow leadership contender and former Community and Social Services Minister Rajan Sawhney also said via email she was not part of the decision and is "unfamiliar with the specific circumstances involved."

She, like many candidates, has pledged to hold a public inquiry into the Alberta government's response to COVID-19. Sawhney said this would include the roles played by health officials.

Leadership hopeful Leela Aheer, who was shuffled out of cabinet in July 2021, said the Alberta government owes the public an explanation of how the additional $2.4 million in pandemic pay given to 107 managers was calculated.

She worries those civil servants are being unfairly targeted for a decision beyond their control.

"We need to make sure that people understand what we're doing and why," Aheer said. "The reason the public is outraged right now is they don't understand."

Government spokespeople have not answered questions about who approved the additional pay. 

The government has said the bonus pay was determined using a formula the public service commission uses to compensate managers for excessive overtime during public emergencies.

CBC News reached out to Rebecca Schulz for a response but, at the time of publishing, hadn't received a response. 

Leadership hopefuls who weren't in cabinet scoffed at the idea the former ministers were unaware of the expense.

"Cabinet has made two years of bad decisions," MLA and leadership candidate Brian Jean said. "And this is one more of the latest insults. Cabinet needs to explain how this happened. All the money comes from the same place."

Independent MLA Todd Loewen, who is also seeking party leadership, is also pledging to hold an investigation into pandemic management if party members chose him as leader. He said in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday that managers receiving bonus pay doesn't make him feel any better about the government's choices.

Danielle Smith called the bonuses "tone deaf."

"It is now clear we weren't all in this together, as many were making big bucks off the crisis. Our frontline health-care workers, including our doctors and nurses, pushed themselves to the brink. It's a slap in the face to each of them," she told CBC News via text. 

Party members are slated to choose a new leader Oct. 6.

Unions say bonuses insulting to front-line workers

Meanwhile, the leaders of unions representing Alberta healthcare workers reacted with frustration and anger to news of the manager bonus pay.

The Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), which represents nearly 30,000 health-care workers, has just inked a contract that gives around 20,000 Alberta Health Services workers a one per cent pay increase in 2020-21. It's part of a total 4.25 per cent raise over four years.

To see Hinshaw receive 63 per cent more pay in the same year is "insulting," HSAA president Mike Parker said Tuesday.

Parker contrasted the expense with government arriving at the bargaining table seeking wage rollbacks as high as 11 per cent for some workers.

"The only reason the system was still operating was that our folks kept coming to work and staying extra. Doing more," he said.

The ranks of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees include 55,000 health-care workers, such as laundry, housekeeping, and food services workers and maintenance staff.

Union vice-president Bonnie Gostola says those workers are in the midst of voting on a new contract that includes no new pay for 2020-21 and modest increases for the following two years.

She said it was a struggle to get "pennies" from the government in negotiations, even after all their efforts during the pandemic.

"I was very insulted for our members, and many others in health care," Gostola said.