It’s safe bet the United Conservative Party Government wasn’t very happy to learn yesterday that Verna Yiu, controversially fired in April as president and chief executive officer of Alberta Health Services, has been named as the next provost and academic vice-president of the University of Alberta.
In fact, you can take it as a certainty that Jason Kenney, who is still premier of Alberta despite the party effort now under way to find his replacement, will be furious. That anger will be reflected by a number of members of his cabinet, too, at least as long as their patron sticks around.
After all, when governments fire high-profile officials, they like them to stay fired.
This is particularly true of those like the United Conservative Party under Mr. Kenney that have an obvious vindictive streak.
But even without the UCP’s tendency toward mean-spiritedness, no government would want to remind voters that they had just fired a respected leader with a year left to run on her contract – and had to pay her out to the tune of at least her full $568,321 annual salary because everyone except the anti-vaccine nuts in the UCP base understood she had been doing an exemplary job.
Nevertheless, arguing that they needed change now, that is exactly what the UCP did on April 4, claiming that they wanted to “move forward with an ambitious agenda to improve and modernize the health system.” Which meant, of course, that they want to privatize significant parts of it – and as quickly as possible, in case they don’t win the next election.
Dr. Yiu was a staunch defender of public health care, and therefore had the potential to be a well-placed opponent to UCP privatizers.
While AHS Board Chair Gregory Turnbull praised Dr. Yiu for her “tireless leadership through the worst days of the pandemic” and thanked for “her years of dedicated service and commitment to AHS and to Albertans,” you’ll note that neither he nor Health Minister Jason Copping denied she’d been fired when media reported it was so.
So, naturally, there was speculation on social media last night that U of A President Bill Flanagan’s announcement of Dr. Yiu’s two-year appointment starting July 1 as his academic second-in-command was intended as a slap in the face of the government.
But given Mr. Flanagan’s approach to dealing with the Kenney Government’s attacks on U of A funding, not to mention the fact that the U of A Board is now as packed with UCP retainers as the one at AHS, it also seems highly unlikely Dr. Yiu’s appointment was intended as a doigt d’honneur to the government.
Mr. Flanagan must have sincerely assumed she was the best person for the job, and considering her six years of exemplary service as CEO of AHS and 20 years of experience in various senior public health care jobs, that might just be true. As I wrote in this space on April 4, Dr. Yiu “led Alberta Health Services through the darkest hours of the pandemic with grace and a steady hand.”
That won’t count for much with Mr. Kenney, of course, since he seems to have had a chip on his shoulder against the U of A since then-president David Turpin refused in 2018 to bow to his pressure to withdraw an honorary degree that was about to be bestowed upon environmentalist and scientist David Suzuki.
Ever since, the UCP has been hammering the U of A.
In the 2021 provincial budget, nearly half of the massive $126-million cut to post-secondary education in Alberta was borne by the U of A alone.
“Twenty-five per cent of Alberta’s post-secondary students attend the University of Alberta, yet the province has required us to bear nearly 50 per cent of the reduction in provincial funding,” Mr. Flanagan lamented at the time.
Of course, it also doesn’t help that the U of A is based in Edmonton, which has voted solidly for the NDP in the past two provincial elections.
Listing Dr. Yiu’s contributions to U of A programs over the years, Mr. Flanagan said in his statement to faculty members and other U of A employees yesterday that she “is a well-established leader in the national community, having served on many boards and committees including the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, among others.”
He noted that Dr. Yiu is an alumna of the U of A, having “completed her undergraduate degree, medical school, and residency” at the university.
His message also noted that Steven Dew, the current provost and academic VP, “will be resigning from his administrative role at the end of June.”
In a statement included with Mr. Flanagan’s message, Dr. Dew said “the past couple of years have been particularly taxing on us all and have affected my health and stamina. I need to step away from the role.”
Dr. Dew, a member of the university’s electrical and computer engineering department, said that after a leave of absence he intends to return to teaching.
The U of A is inviting further UCP-imposed cuts upon its budget after this. Disproportionate ones, that is. After seeing how the proportionately smaller (but still swingeing) budget cuts have affected the operation of the University of Calgary, I find it hard to imagine how the U of A is managing.
But post-secondary education is always going to be a soft target for parties like the UCP. Bringing down those sniffy eggheads a peg or two will always play well to Martha and Henry.
Also, we don’t teach logic outside of universities. People who understand logic are much less likely to vote for things that will harm them. You know, like the UCP.
Yes, Ms. Yiu’s appointment will surely annoy the Kenney crowd and likely they will try find another way to kick the U of A down again. However, we are getting towards the end of the Kenney regime, so I suspect some people are starting to lose their fear of what this vindictive gang will do. Whatever they do, it could be temporary or soon reversed.
I suspect whoever takes over the UCP will try to appear to be kinder and gentler, at least for a while. A good start would be for them to come out against how Ms. Yiu was treated by Kenney and the resulting waste of money. However, I suspect that will not happen. Most of the remaining UCP candidates seem ok with his bad policies, they just want to have a better “tone”.
As for Kenney, there is a saying that you meet the same people on the way down as on the way up. Its too bad he didn’t treat them better, so I suspect his ride down could become a bit bumpy. Isn’t there still an investigation into his UCP leadership race shenanigans?
The RCMP seem to be taking this investigation into credible allegations against a wealthy, white, male Conservative about as seriously as they take investigations into missing indigenous women.
We’re lucky that Dr. Yiu is staying in Alberta and continuing to work for the betterment of the people of this province. Of course certain politicians would be displeased. Working for the betterment of others and society as a whole is not what they do.
True conservatives are having a good laugh at how stupid these reformers are. After wasting $150,000. each to run as leader of the UCP Brian Jean got a whopping 150 out to hear his lies , mainly seniors, and Rebecca Schultz got 30 people to listen to her lies in Medicine Hat. She promises that the UCP will be different now that Kenney will be gone. Yet none of them are smart enough to suggest that to fix the financial mess we are in we need to start collecting proper royalties and taxes , like Lougheed did and Norway and Alaska are doing. Like Rachael Notley suggested in 2015. I wonder if anyone will bother to listen to Danielle Smith when she starts spreading her lies?
Alan K. Spiller: Unfortunately, amnesia seems to be the case with many Albertans and Danielle Smith. Hypocrisy is also very prominent too. All you have to do is look at these comments that are with this article from The National Post, and you can see for yourself how people are easily fooled by another pretend conservative and Reformer. These people love to criticize Justin Trudeau, but won’t say anything about what the UCP has been doing wrong in Alberta, which is far worse in its scope. These people are so easily fooled, and it’s a shame. They don’t remember how bad Danielle Smith was as the Wildrose leader.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/ucp-leadership-contender-danielle-smith-wants-alberta-to-ignore-federal-laws-it-doesnt-like
Anonymous Take a look at the Calgary sun blog and see how these ignorant seniors attacked me for daring to point out the truth. Their new darling is Danielle Smith and find it smart to ignore the stupidity she wants to bring to the table. I wonder how many of them could afford the $800. to $1,000. per month Americans are forced to pay, none I bet.
Jean and Smith are polling well, so what are you talking about? As for “only” getting 150 to hear him speak, IT’S A PANDEMIC, isn’t it? First congregating is stupid because of covid, then you’re saying NOT congregating is a sign of unpopularity, but NOT a sign people are taking covid seriously??? The leaps and wild assumptions that happen around here give me quite the belly laughs. You all speak down to those who vote differently than you. So much for inclusivity.
Reality: What inclusivity do the UCP have? The UCP thrive on creating division and attacking others, who don’t agree with their shortsighted policies. Covid-19 pandemic restrictions in Alberta were lifted by the UCP. The turnout for these political grandstanding and political posturing events by these pretend conservatives and Reformers in the UCP was very low. Brian Jean and Danielle Smith are polling well? Where? Consistently, except for one poll, which is meaningless, the UCP’s popularity has been diminishing since the last quarter of 2020. The UCP have done many very pricey shenanigans, which cost Alberta billions of dollars, racked up a staggering debt for Alberta, which currently sits at $125 billion, did a very terrible job of looking after the Covid-19 pandemic in Alberta, disregarded environmental stewardship, never gave proper supports to the disadvantaged, the doctors, the nurses, and all other medical professionals, our senior citizens, and teachers, along with the pupils they teach. These pretend conservatives and Reformers weren’t like the true conservative we had running the province, Peter Lougheed. Pretend conservatives and Reformers simply cannot be trusted.
I don’t think they’re claiming the UCP is inclusive, I think they’re saying “The NDP isn’t inclusive, therefore, NDP supporters can’t fairly criticize the UCP for not being inclusive.” The name of the fallacy is “Appeal to hypocrisy” or “Tu quoque” if you want to sound hoity-toity. It follows this format:
Person 1: We should pollute less.
Person 2: You drove here in an SUV!
Basically, person 2 tries to refute person 1’s argument by saying that their conduct is at odds with their conclusion. This is a fallacious argument because it is possible to be correct while also being a hypocrite.
No disrespect intended to Reality, but I’ve noticed that most rank and file right wingers nowadays aren’t really capable of effective political discourse. They’re not trying to advocate for solutions to society’s problems because they don’t have the mental toolkit necessary to do that, instead they’re trying to “own the Libs” with whatever talking points the Tucker Carlsons of the world gave them yesterday.
For those who consider themselves to be both serious adults and right wingers, I respectfully invite you to reconsider glorifying ignorance – the simple, easy problems were solved a long time ago. Whoever comes up with effective solutions to today’s problems is going to have to know a lot of things that are boring and unprofitable. If you don’t put the same work and care into your education that you put into your finances, you are not going to be able to make positive contributions to society’s political discourse.
….Aaand I should quickly add that the problem of political illiteracy is not unique to the right, but I feel quite confident saying it is most severe there at this place and time.
You may not have noticed but some of the mandates are being lifted and rock concerts are back on along with hockey games. 90% of Canadians are vaccinated and you can always mask up.
Yes, there used to be sustained pressure from the not-far-right to take precautions against COVID. That battle was lost. Remember watching full arenas during the Oilers and Flames playoff runs at the same time there were newspaper articles about full emergency rooms in understaffed hospitals? It wasn’t the non-far-right that made that happen.
As far as attendance to any particular UCP speaker goes… there aren’t any reasonable adults interested in wasting an afternoon listening to a deranged toddler spew easily falsifiable nonsense. The UCP is operated by and for self-righteous know-nothings with no sense of social responsibility whatsoever.
Reality : so how do you explain how Pierre Poilievre candidate trying to win leadership of the federal conservatives was able to attract an audience of 6,000 at Spruce Meadows in Calgary recently. The only person you are fooling is yourself. Why don’t you provide us with a list of all the horrible things Notley did to us while lawyers, accountants, oilmen, bankers and former MLAs from the Lougheed government had nothing but praise for what she was trying to accomplish? It’s no secret that Albertans want her back, or haven’t you been listening. The true conservatives in my world aren’t dumb enough to believe the lies these Reformers have been spreading, so why are you?
The “obvious vindictive streak” belongs to the NDP, just ask the volunteers. But nice try.
Reality: Actually, the vindictive streak belongs to the UCP, who cheated their way into power.
Haha where would our political discourse be without whattaboutisms?
The UCP. People of the West. People of the land. Morons.
Simple laws UCP DOESN’T GET.
Under finance education … surround yourself with ignorance.
Under finance health care … surround yourself with sickness.
Ignore homelessness and poverty … invite crime.
Cater to corporate needs … rob the people
Privatise … enrich the few by costing the many.
Blue voters have contempt prior to investigation and are proud of their ignorance. That combination will accelerate our race to the bottom, increase the economic gap and promote the 6th great extinction.
Yee Haw … best government ever!! get a new poster child
IMO Alberta is quite fortunate here. Serious, qualified grown-ups who care about society are being made increasingly unwelcome by the UCP, and they have a lot of choices. They can pick up and move basically wherever they want and be welcome and valued just about anywhere. Also, when entire professions are attacked, be they doctors, nurses, teachers or basically anyone who doesn’t make a living by making the world a worse place, the individuals you lose first are usually the most highly qualified ones, who have lots of opportunities and aren’t interested in having their time and expertise wasted by other peoples’ idiocy. Put another way, if you lose 10% of your nurses, much of that 10% will be your best nurses, and almost all of your worse nurses will stay. I worry that by the time mainstream Albertans remove their heads from inside Mr. Kenney’s keister, they’ll look around and realize all the grownups packed up and left.
Yep. Reads like a rational adult thinking.
From away (personally, I have fond reminisces of the many times I lived and worked in Alberta, way back) it sure seems Albertans must pine for the good old days, back when the province’s politics was calmer (that is, reserving its ire traditionally for Ottawa), back from about a half-century ago from, say, the illustrious prudence of Peter Lougheed’s illustrious Red Toryism to the illusory ideology of Ralph Klein’s proclaimed small-c conservatism which bequeathed the high-speed socio-economic skid which his successors’ subsequent over-corrections could not pull out of, which beggared the reputation of Lougheed’s once-venerable party and ultimately had it pilloried by 2011. As if naloxoned from sweet dreams rudely interrupted, Albertans peevishly punished the ProgCon party, paring it of power in 2015, then of existence two years later. Then, dope-sick, elected the dude with the biker connections.
Those last four years offered a salutary “look-in-the-mirror,” and every prescription since has been met with inconsolable ire as the whole construct of political torpor has been torn to shreds like a tinfoil flap while, coincidentally, unforeseen circumstances kicked the province while it was Jonesing and reeling from the collapse of its dominant bitumen industry, from wildfires which breached the urban/wilderness interface, from sudden fever at steadily chilling popularity of its predominant federal, neo-right party. And then, of course, Covid.
The UCP reacted badly to what nature and globalized economics dished out, just like the interwoven federal CPC and various threads of maverick buffalo bullheads did, so unlike its NDP predecessor (which is still the more experienced at governing and still the epitome of keeping its head whilst all others were losing theirs). Unlike the unforeseen, more or less ecological phenomena which befell the Wild Rose province, the UCP’s disastrous handling of the energy and public health files—the crash and the Covid—has been premeditated all along and at any point it could have been rescinded or amended to within a stone’s throw of anything the least bit politic.
But who knows: Kenney might have had Dr Yiu fired with complete approval of the wildest of roses in his caucus and base, but then have planned to let up on the throttle before nearing the speed-trap zone of the next general election. Now, still premier during the UCP interregnum, he don’t hafta worry about Smokey Bear no more, least ways not before the next leader takes over in October, just a fortnight after what could well be K-Boy’s best summer ever.
Congrats, Dr Yiu! It’s been unpleasantly unjust for you, but your impeccable record of public service is, to Albertans’ great good fortune, now embarking on what we hope is the most rewarding chapter of your career.
Unfortunately (through absolutely no fault of Dr Yiu’s), Albertan’s are stuck with the worst of all possible political scenarios: the Prince of Peeve sulking in humiliated conceit and nothing to lose, still holding sufficient executive power to rush in ideology-blinded polices, perhaps intended irreversible, in a bid for legacy or, maybe, to beggar on of the leadership contenders in favour of another, or a raft of other measures for a host of other political games.
It’s still a question what percentage of voters will approve of Kenney’s successor, but betcha very few Albertans can be happy about this slow-mo train-interwreckdom. It’s like they don’t have a government for the next quarter of a year. There’s only one party leader who can speak to them now—making this one a them veeeeeeeery rare situations.
Good luck, my Alberta friends: hang in there! We’re rooting for you!!