Top doc’s bonus has Alberta fuming

It must have felt like a harsh slap in the face to nurses, who at one point during the pandemic were told the government was seeking a three per cent cut wage cut

Doctors, nurses and other health-care workers across the country are struggling to treat patients flooding into hospital emergency departments. It’s all part of the pandemic squeeze and it’s no different in Alberta.

Of course things could always get worse for all those front-line workers and they did last week when it was revealed that Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health received a huge bonus ($228,000) on top of her $363,000 annual salary.

It must have felt like a harsh slap in the face to nurses, who at one point during the pandemic were told the government was seeking a three per cent cut wage cut. Physicians have been without a contract since February 2020 when the health minister tore it up even though negotiations were still underway. And what about those long-term care aides who need two jobs to survive?

“It seems to us that it’s just an indication of: we will treat front-line workers one way and we’ll treat senior people in a completely different way and that’s troubling,” said David Harrigan, labour relations director for the United Nurses of Alberta.

After CBC revealed the bonus as listed in the public service Sunshine List for 2021, a government communications officer said Hinshaw deserved it because she worked so much over time. No doubt she did work long hours but she is not paid by the hour; payment for any overtime is considered part of her generous salary.

And even if she did deserve a bonus, why was it so much?

Bonnie Henry, B.C’s chief medical officer of health, didn’t get a bonus and she earns less ($342,000 a year) than Hinshaw. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer had a contract from June 2018 to June 2022 that entitled her to a maximum salary of $265,000. The federal government has since raised her maximum salary to $324,000.

In no way was Hinshaw’s salary trailing those of officials with similar responsibilities.

But Hinshaw did stir up a lot of controversy. Maybe she was paid extra for enduring that as she complied with political decisions made by Premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet that infuriated so many Albertans. She received so many threats that the government paid a private security firm more than $262,000 to protect her.

Like Kenney, Hinshaw was attacked from all sides. Anti-vaxxers and COVID-19 deniers, who made up a large slice of the UCP base, condemned her for ruining their lives with restrictions. Others thought she wasn’t doing enough.

In 2021, when Kenney dropped all pandemic restrictions just before the Calgary Stampede and declared it would be the “Best Summer Ever,” Hinshaw fell in line.

Predictably, dropping all restrictions led to another serious COVID-19 wave, along with high hospitalization and death rates and more work for health-care providers. At one point during that wave Alberta had a COVID-19 death rate three times the national average.

Whenever Hinshaw was asked by the media if the cabinet had accepted or rejected her recommendations she said that was a matter of cabinet confidentiality. She had the power to implement restrictions, such as masking and gathering limits, but she always deferred to the political decision makers.

But the revelation of the bombshell bonus isn’t the end of the story. It hit the United Conservative Party’s leadership race (Kenney resigned in April after a leadership review) like stray shrapnel that had most of the candidates running for cover.

That’s because four of the seven candidates were in the UCP cabinet when that decision was made. One of them, the former finance minister, Travis Toews, denied knowing anything about the bonus and vowed to change the rules so in the future such rewards would need ministerial approval.

It’s hard to believe Toews didn’t know about such a hefty bonus when he was the one who called for wage cuts for nurses. But then again nothing surprises anymore when it comes to Alberta politics these days.