The ‘revelation’ of patronage appointments to boards across Alberta in yesterday’s Herald story “Party faithful often rewarded” is not a revelation at all. Most engaged people in Alberta in the past 15 years have, however, watched this with a mixture of cynicism and silence. This excellent overview does present a timely and powerful opportunity to highlight a key message about the Klein years – a loss of public trust – recently highlighted also in the EUB spying scandal.

Virtually all of the patronage appointments made by the Conservative government of Alberta serve four purposes, all contrary to the public good:

1) Rewarding Conservative friends / donors
2) Promoting Conservative ideology
3) Discouraging dissent and
4) Excluding dissenters (including my termination as Medical Officer in Palliser Health Region in 2002 over support for environmental health)

The article did contain an error that most people recognized – I was fired after influence from then-Minister of Environment Lorne Taylor on the Health Board Chairman Len Mitzel (then Constituency President for Lorne Taylor) for speaking out in FAVOUR of the Kyoto Protocol (not against as the article indicated).
In essence, was fired for doing my job: warning the government and the public about the significant threats implicit in climate change (i.e. expressing the connection between our environment and our health)

The science since a federal report in 1991 was clear: warming temperatures were already significantly impacting the range and impact of diseases and parasites like malaria, west nile virus, equine encephalitis, and extreme weather events including flooding and droughts held significant risk to public health. In short I was wrongly fired by mostly appointed Tories for disagreeing with the Minister on health and environmental policy. I was told NOT to meddle in politics at a later Board meeting. I followed what I believe was my ethical and professional responsibility, warning of the threat, and supporting the interest of public by curtailing climate change through measures like the Kyoto Accord.

Public trust must be earned by governments of all stripe. A Taft government will ensure merit-based appointments to public boards, or election, are the norm in Alberta, not party affiliation,.

Read Articles:
Calgary Herald: Party Faithful Often Rewarded
Edmonton Journal: Nothing Wrong with Tory Appointments to Boards…