KENNEY'S MOUTHPIECE
Dr. Hinshaw sees massive bonus, while healthcare workers continue to struggleTom Vernon - Yesterday
For more than two years, Dr. Deena Hinshaw has been the face of Alberta’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no denying this role has meant a lot of work and long days. And that has led to a significant bump in pay.
Alberta’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw in Edmonton on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021.
As Alberta’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Hinshaw has a salary of more than $360,000, but last year she brought home much more than that.
Alberta’s sunshine list shows additional cash benefits totaling nearly $230,000. All added up, that is more than $590,000 in compensation.
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The sunshine list shows she did not receive this type of payment in 2020 – the first year of the pandemic.
In a statement, government spokesperson Steve Buick said, “Given the scale of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, an extraordinary amount of additional work was required from Alberta’s top public health doctor,” and that the bonus was “determined using a formula for managers based on additional hours worked.”
In total, 107 government employees were given additional compensation, which came to a total of $2.4 million.
This has caught the attention of at least two UCP leadership candidates.
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“’We’re all in this together’ didn’t mean what we thought it did,’ wrote to her Twitter followers, adding Albertans are stunned and outraged.
“$19,000 a month as the bonus?” added MLA Brian Jean. “This is unsettling, to say the least.
“The healthcare system is in trouble,” said Lori Williams, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. “The wisdom of the expenditures or cuts that have been made are being called into question.”
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Williams said it won’t just be UCP leadership hopefuls asking these questions, but other frontline healthcare workers as well.
“Doctors are still – more than two years later – without a contract with the Alberta government. Nurses and frontline healthcare workers, including respiratory therapists, have been repeatedly asked to take cuts,” she said.
The pandemic persists and Dr. Hinshaw continues her work. And Albertans now know what that work is worth.
Alberta government paid Dr. Deena Hinshaw record cash bonus in 2021
Janet French - CBC - YESTERDAY
Alberta's chief medical officer of health last year received the largest cash benefit payout of any provincial civil servant since the government began posting records in 2016.
Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, was paid substantially more than many of her counterparts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw's salary last year was $363,634, but she also took home an additional $227,911 in "cash benefits" during the 2021 calendar year, according to the Alberta government's salary and severance disclosure database, which was updated last month.
Hinshaw is one of 107 employees in management positions who received extra pay for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government says. The total extra compensation cost Albertans more than $2.4 million dollars.
"The scale of the response to this unprecedented public health emergency required an extraordinary amount of additional work from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, the Vaccine Task force, the Pandemic Response Team and others, which is reflected in the recent disclosure," Ministry of Health spokesperson Mark Feldbusch said in an email last week.
He said it is a long-standing policy on pay that has been in place during other emergencies, including the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016 and southern Alberta floods of 2013.
Hinshaw's contract, which is posted online, does not specify the number of hours in her work week, nor does it include overtime provisions.
The Alberta government's extra pay to Hinshaw covers time she worked in excess of 45 hours per week. It was calculated using a formula devised by the public service commission, Feldbusch said.
He declined to say how many hours of overtime she worked.
CBC News compared Hinshaw's compensation for the most recent years available to that of her counterparts in four other provinces, as well as that of Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, of B.C., received $342,292 for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Henry did not receive any bonus pay in that time for pandemic management, a B.C. government spokesperson said.
Dr. Robert Strang, of Nova Scotia, received $305,645 in 2020-21. He did not receive any additional pay for pandemic management during 2020-21 or 2021-22, a Nova Scotia government spokesperson said.
Salaries, compensation of select chief provincial public health officers
Dr. Saqib Shahab, of Saskatchewan, received $411,416 in 2020-21 — about $78,000 more than he received the previous year.
The Saskatchewan government cannot say if Shahab received a bonus, because the law prevents it from releasing more details about civil servants' compensation, a Saskatchewan government spokesperson said.
Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, who started in the post on June 26, 2021, received $235,314 in the 2021 calendar year.
The Ontario government could not disclose whether Moore received any bonus pay, a spokesperson said.
Hinshaw's extra pay opaquely justified: bioethicist
Dr. James Talbot, a medical microbiologist, served as Alberta's chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015.
Talbot did not discuss additional pay for potential excessive overtime with Alberta government human resources personnel while he was in the role, he said.
The pandemic is an unprecedented situation that required public health officials to work a lot of overtime to properly respond to the emergency, so it's fair that Hinshaw was compensated for additional work, Talbot said.
Hinshaw's total compensation last year — about $591,545 — isn't out-of-line with what many medical specialists earn, he said. But her workload was likely comparable to that of her counterparts during this time, making her pay an outlier.
The Alberta government's justification for the additional pay is opaque, said Arthur Schafer, a bioethicist and founding director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.
Hinshaw was one of the best-paid in the country before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the provincial government hasn't explained why her pay is a national aberration, he explained.
"They're blowing smoke in the public's face," Schafer said. "Top-level officials such as Dr. Hinshaw are not paid to work a 40-hour week. They're not salaried based on the number of hours they work. They're given very high remuneration."
Moving forward, Talbot expects medical officers of health — and doctors applying for those positions — to seek additional danger pay, or assurances of security from their respective provincial governments, given the public outrage and threats Hinshaw and her counterparts have faced.
"The amount of stress that that position was under across the country was also unprecedented," he said. "I was only peripherally involved, and I got death threats."
Since late May 2021, the Alberta government has paid Price Langevin and Associate, a private security firm, more than $262,000 to protect Hinshaw, according to the province's sole-source contracts diclosure database.
Janet French - CBC - YESTERDAY
Alberta's chief medical officer of health last year received the largest cash benefit payout of any provincial civil servant since the government began posting records in 2016.
Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, was paid substantially more than many of her counterparts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw's salary last year was $363,634, but she also took home an additional $227,911 in "cash benefits" during the 2021 calendar year, according to the Alberta government's salary and severance disclosure database, which was updated last month.
Hinshaw is one of 107 employees in management positions who received extra pay for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government says. The total extra compensation cost Albertans more than $2.4 million dollars.
"The scale of the response to this unprecedented public health emergency required an extraordinary amount of additional work from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, the Vaccine Task force, the Pandemic Response Team and others, which is reflected in the recent disclosure," Ministry of Health spokesperson Mark Feldbusch said in an email last week.
He said it is a long-standing policy on pay that has been in place during other emergencies, including the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016 and southern Alberta floods of 2013.
Hinshaw's contract, which is posted online, does not specify the number of hours in her work week, nor does it include overtime provisions.
The Alberta government's extra pay to Hinshaw covers time she worked in excess of 45 hours per week. It was calculated using a formula devised by the public service commission, Feldbusch said.
He declined to say how many hours of overtime she worked.
CBC News compared Hinshaw's compensation for the most recent years available to that of her counterparts in four other provinces, as well as that of Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada's chief public health officer.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, of B.C., received $342,292 for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Henry did not receive any bonus pay in that time for pandemic management, a B.C. government spokesperson said.
Dr. Robert Strang, of Nova Scotia, received $305,645 in 2020-21. He did not receive any additional pay for pandemic management during 2020-21 or 2021-22, a Nova Scotia government spokesperson said.
Salaries, compensation of select chief provincial public health officers
Dr. Saqib Shahab, of Saskatchewan, received $411,416 in 2020-21 — about $78,000 more than he received the previous year.
The Saskatchewan government cannot say if Shahab received a bonus, because the law prevents it from releasing more details about civil servants' compensation, a Saskatchewan government spokesperson said.
Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, who started in the post on June 26, 2021, received $235,314 in the 2021 calendar year.
The Ontario government could not disclose whether Moore received any bonus pay, a spokesperson said.
Hinshaw's extra pay opaquely justified: bioethicist
Dr. James Talbot, a medical microbiologist, served as Alberta's chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015.
Talbot did not discuss additional pay for potential excessive overtime with Alberta government human resources personnel while he was in the role, he said.
The pandemic is an unprecedented situation that required public health officials to work a lot of overtime to properly respond to the emergency, so it's fair that Hinshaw was compensated for additional work, Talbot said.
Hinshaw's total compensation last year — about $591,545 — isn't out-of-line with what many medical specialists earn, he said. But her workload was likely comparable to that of her counterparts during this time, making her pay an outlier.
The Alberta government's justification for the additional pay is opaque, said Arthur Schafer, a bioethicist and founding director of the University of Manitoba's Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics.
Hinshaw was one of the best-paid in the country before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the provincial government hasn't explained why her pay is a national aberration, he explained.
"They're blowing smoke in the public's face," Schafer said. "Top-level officials such as Dr. Hinshaw are not paid to work a 40-hour week. They're not salaried based on the number of hours they work. They're given very high remuneration."
Moving forward, Talbot expects medical officers of health — and doctors applying for those positions — to seek additional danger pay, or assurances of security from their respective provincial governments, given the public outrage and threats Hinshaw and her counterparts have faced.
"The amount of stress that that position was under across the country was also unprecedented," he said. "I was only peripherally involved, and I got death threats."
Since late May 2021, the Alberta government has paid Price Langevin and Associate, a private security firm, more than $262,000 to protect Hinshaw, according to the province's sole-source contracts diclosure database.
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