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2009 Nov 05 (Thu)

Health and Wellness Executive Search Contract

Kevin asks for clarification on what influenced the Department of Health and Wellness to hire a company half owned by the election campaign manager for the Minister of Health and Wellness.

 

1694 Alberta Hansard November 3, 2009

Dr. Taft: Thanks, Mr. Speaker. A careful digging into government books shows that a numbered company was paid $135,000 by the Department of Health and Wellness last year. If you dig through a second layer of numbered companies, you’ll find that the $135,000 went to a company 50 per cent owned by the election campaign manager for the Minister of Health and Wellness. To the Minister of Health and Wellness: can he tell the people of Alberta why his

department paid $135,000 to 1024226 Alberta Ltd., a company half owned by his campaign manager?

Mr. Liepert: I can only assume, Mr. Speaker, that he’s referring to the search that took place for the board members for Alberta Health Services, which was an open, tendered competition. My recollection is that the winning search firm that was selected was a search firm out of Calgary called Boyden. One of the partners in that firm is a gentleman named Brent Shervey, who was my campaign manager. It was an open competition. If the member would like to have sent over the documentation that we have, I’d be happy to supply it to him.

Dr. Taft: Thanks, Mr. Speaker. I’ll take the minister up on the offer, so ship me the documents. Again to the same minister: what was his personal involvement in the decision to have the Department of Health and Wellness hire his campaign manager’s numbered company? Is it just coincidence that his campaign manager’s company was hired, or was there political influence?

Mr. Liepert: Well, I can say that the competition was conducted by the HR department of Alberta Health and Wellness. At the time they did the search, they asked me about the fact that this particular company had been the successful bidder and, I believe, the lowest bidder, Mr. Speaker, but I’ll clarify that because I was not involved in the actual selection process. I was informed. I don’t see why any company in this province who does business should be precluded from doing business with this government if they meet all of the guidelines in the RFP.

Dr. Taft: In May 2009 the Minister of Health and Wellness told a legislative committee that he wasn’t going to have a board of health care professionals running Alberta Health Services. Well, no kidding. The only health professional on the board is a doctor from Toronto. Again to the same minister: did he give direction to his campaign manager to avoid recruiting to the board of Alberta Health Services any health care professionals from Alberta, or is it just coincidence that it turned out that way?

Mr. Liepert: I can’t recall the exact documentation that was provided as part of the search, but it was done by our HR department, and I’d be more than happy to give whatever is not privileged information to the member, and then he can go on his witch hunt, Mr. Speaker.

 

 

 

Date: Thu Nov 5 20:17:37 MST 2009 changed by: Rebecca IP: 68.149.137.22