Whether or not the Law Society of Alberta hearing that started yesterday into Justice Minister Tyler Shandro’s conduct back when he was health minister in Jason Kenney’s cabinet results in any professional sanctions, it’s hard to believe his reputation will survive unscathed.
And there are two more days of testimony to go in Calgary, with media clearly focused on the story, which is being livestreamed on Zoom by the regulatory body for lawyers.
Postmedia court reporter Jonny Wakefield’s live tweets – with their present-tense delivery and chronological presentation – told the story with more drama than a traditional summary lead news story like those most reporters filed later. But then, the traditional news story is boring by design, always delivering the punchline before it tells the joke, as it were.
One tweet in the long series filed by Mr. Wakefield through the hearing described Dr. Mukarram Zaidi’s testimony about the moment his neighbour the health minister, accompanied by his wife, showed up in the physician’s driveway to complain about a Facebook meme he’d posted suggesting the Shandro family’s insurance business stood to profit from government health care policy.
At the time, many physicians and the Alberta Medical Association were outraged by the Kenney Government’s decision to unilaterally change the way they were paid.
“‘He was crying, emotionally charged, his wife was holding him. He said ‘you can’t do this to us, we’re getting death threats,’” testified Dr. Zaidi, who was in those days a UCP member and supporter.
The thread continued: “Zaidi said he never threatened Shandro. He says coming from Pakistan, he and his wife were worried about making a government minister angry. Says they were concerned for their safety.”
“Zaidi: ‘The Crown’s representative on my doorstep, yelling at me to delete my post advocating for primary health care.’” Dr. Zaidi said he went inside and deleted it.
Yes, Mr. Shandro’s lawyer denied that any tears flowed, but the image is an arresting one. Like it or not – and Mr. Shandro certainly won’t – it’s part of the story now.
So whatever the Law Society’s tribunal decides to do about the antics of the man who is now justice minister, and however long it takes to decide, the conclusions of many ordinary Albertans are bound to be that the man under the microscope appears to be a nut with an anger-management problem.
So if he has moments of clarity, Mr. Shandro should really think seriously about not running for re-election in his Calgary-Acadia riding whenever Premier Danielle Smith gets around to calling a general election.
Anything is possible in electoral politics, of course, but it strains credulity that the riding’s voters would want to re-elect a man who bursts into tears while fiercely berating a neighbour in his driveway over a Facebook meme.
The Law Society hearing, called in response to several misconduct allegations against Mr. Shandro, will determine if his behaviour during his interactions with physicians and members of the public during that fraught period violated the code of conducting governing the province’s lawyers.
Mr. Shandro’s lawyer argued yesterday he was acting as health minister and a husband when he yelled at Dr. Zaidi, not as a lawyer. This is pretty much what Mr. Kenney said in the hours after the incident, along with some criticism of the doctor.
Back to Dr. Zaidi’s testimony, as recounted by Mr. Wakefield: “The saddest part of this whole incident is Kenney villainized me.”
“‘When he villainized me, things went really (bad).’ Says his clinic got death threats, people review bombed his RateMD. ‘People just posted the nastiest things about me in a smear campaign.’ ‘The death threats were the worst.’”
In addition to the allegation Mr. Shandro behaved inappropriately in his encounter with Dr. Zaidi, the tribunal will consider if he acted improperly when he contacted physicians who had criticized him, using their personal cell numbers obtained from Alberta Health Services.
It will also consider if he “responded to an email from a member of the public addressed to his wife by threatening to refer that individual to the authorities if they did not address future correspondence to his office as Minister of Health.”
I’m not sure if Mr. Shandro is much for introspection, but perhaps this hearing will prompt some of it.
Shandro should have got the message when a Minister former colleague Calgary MLA quit at the end of August or if not then when his former boss, also a Calgary MLA packed it in a while after.
Perhaps the smarter ones jump ship first, the ones who can see where things are headed or who might have better opportunities elsewhere. I don’t quite get why Shandro is sticking around, or the current UCP leader is keeping him around. Perhaps she has some sympathy for or can identify with his iffy political judgement.
In any event, in addition to the Law Society, I don’t think the voters are very impressed with his past behavior. Perhaps he will finally get the message and decide to not run again, but I am really not very sure of that. He does not seem to be the sharpest one of the bunch. So perhaps he actually feels quite comfortable in the current government.
So, let’s see if I have this right,
the Premier just did a investigation of herself and her ministers for interference, while the justice minister, (who replaced the former jm who “resigned ” for seemingly interfering) is having a hearing for misconduct while he was health minister….3 mths–with a mth off for Xmas–into the new tenure, and parliament isn’t sitting until next week ….WOW!!
No wonder PP is trying so hard, Danielle is getting so much attention across Canada, he must be smoldering. I have a feeling he is going to come out swinging in question period, to try and get the attention back on himself.,
though I’m putting even money on DS keeping the limelight going.
I don’t think much of the electorate in Alberta cares how bad the UCP really are. They’ll want to shrug it off, and carry on blindly supporting them. Look at what is happening with Danielle Smith. Those of us who do care, get sarcastic comments hurled at us. What a shame.
Anonymous No one knows it better than you and me. Ignorant seniors proving how stupid they really are hurling their sarcastic comments at us for not being as stupid as them. It’s hard believe how stupid they really are, these reformers love them, I know Ralph Klein certainly did. From the first day I met him he loved treating people like morons it was his passion. Long before he ever got into politics dad called him that sleazy bastard and lawyers have told me that dad was right that’s exact what he was. I knew every time he was lying by the stupid smirk on his face and other people have told me they knew that smirk and what it meant also. He didn’t fool us, and they aren’t fooling any of the seniors in my circle of friends they are as disgusted with them as much as I am.
The person at the centre of this story wants to arm security officers at the legislature.
Communication in this case took place in person, by texts, through third parties and on private phones. It goes to show you that email isn’t the only way for members of government and their representatives to communicate. Who knew?!
So much more to say. I hope Tyler Shandro gets counselling.
” … the man under the microscope appears to be a nut with an anger-management problem.”
And how is this different from almost every conservative minister in the albaturda gov’t? I guess some are not men because they are women.
I’ve watched for the last 25 years and am aware of the decade prior and this behavior and the simple description of simple men and women is just another day in the life of the most incompetent and corrupt gov’t in Canada.
This clown should be sanctioned – heavily. But he won’t because that’s how they do things here. It’s more than a little disgusting.
I remember a teacher colleague telling me about her dealings with the ATA when she wanted to complain about her daughter’s teacher, saying she wanted to act as a concerned parent, not a teacher. The ATA’s position was unequivocal: she was always a teacher.
I would be surprised if the Law Society would feel any different about a lawyer wanting to pick and choose when they are a lawyer.
Although Tyler Shandro won the 2019 election with a substantial margin, the NDP did win Acadia in 2015, so it is not like it is a safe UCP riding.
According to Dave Cournier’s blog, Mr. Shandro has been nominated as the UCP candidate in the next election; we will have to see if the current proceedings change things.
Seems the young fellow has an “entitlement” problem!
I’m not going to slag the Shandro clan, but this guy? He’s a beaut!
I do wonder how many voters going to the polls will either shrug off Shandro and Smith’s unlawful behaviors as no big deal or willfully cheer it on as did Trump voters.
Or not even have a clue what is really going on, or care, as someone I know told me that the children’s medicine that they arranged for was behind the shelves of pharmacies and all you have to do is ask for it because they don’t have english french labels. This was before the medicine had even made it to Canada and was also oblivious to the fact that it was a Turkish company owned by Dr Oz’s mother.
I don’t have much use for Shandro and think that he behaved inappropriately, but some men weep easily when stressed. It doesn’t indicate anything about their character and they shouldn’t be judged on that basis.
And these are the fools who want to create a police state by kicking out the RCMP , picking officers they can control Hitler style and use them against anyone who doesn’t support them, as German friends have pointed out over the years when Klein wanted to do it. The MLAs I got to know were right you can’t trust any of them. It’s obvious that all Preston Manning will have to say to win his $253, 000. Is repeat what he has already written
“Bizarre fictional COVID 19 report penned by Preston Manning has resurfaced on social media.”
Shady Shandro will live forever in infamy.
While there is much ballyhoo about Jordan Peterson receiving similar chastisement from his respective professional body for conduct unbecoming a member of his profession. Of course, all the Incel fanboys who worship the ground Peterson walks on think he’s above professional conduct rules because FreeDUMB. I’m not sure if Shandro will enjoy the same latitude for conduct unbecoming a member of the Law Society of Alberta, but surely Premier Danielle Smith can call the Law Society’s directors and ask them to forget Shandro’s behaviour, before she denies she ever contacted anyone at the Law Society, then saying that she charged a flunky to do it, before denying it she did that, and then launching an investigation lasting exactly twelve hours, which will find nothing.
Well, lemme see. At least when Ralphie went to the emergency shelter and behaved badly he had the excuse of being drunk. Shandro apparently only has the excuse of being all lawyered up! I am not sure how well this defence will fare. And how seriously does anyone take a meme anyways? Perhaps I will leave it at that. I don’t see the good doctor did anything terrible that would crater the business. And if it did, then you would have to wonder about the reputation of the business to start.
I think if he’d had any ethics at all, he’d have turned down the health minister position BECAUSE of his private health insurance business. How many brain cells do you have to rub together to figure out that at some point someone will point to your blind trust and say, “what does that even mean? You know you and your wife own a business that stands to profit from your legislative action. You can’t just forget it—divest or step down.” Then he gets all worked up when someone calls him on it. No good deed goes unpunished, Shamwow…
The judicial interference issue will not, IMHO, be going away anytime soon.
The latest report of email inspection only serve to make this PR fiasco worse. It is serious…so much so that no one, including the Premier, is saying boo. Dead silence.
Danielle Smith only has herself (and her big mouth) to blame. She is not on radio any more. She started by twice saying (or was is bragging) that she had interfered with the judicial system. Once in a rebelnews interview, again in an Edmonton news conference.
Only one question remains. Was she lying or was she describing her actions accurately??
Who on earth would accept the comment of ‘imprecise’. Being imprecise is not being economical with the truth. It is nothing but a cavalier attempt to avoid saying that she was lying.
Using that word is an indication of how she rates the intelligence of Alberta voters and more specifically UCP voters.
Lots of ‘legs’ left on this story yet.
Would it be mean of me to tell Dani to eff off damn quick, and give her a link to future grand plans? I’m torn! I respect your journalistic integrity, so I’ll toil away on the clean up crew, while you decide! https://youtu.be/pCtNxp7sfhE
Minister “Due Course.” Govern yourselves accordingly Calgary Acadia voters.
https://streamable.com/jchtfy
Remember: this whole thing started with conflict of interest which in this case is arguably perceivable: rookie MLA Tyler Shandro, wearing his minister-of-health hat in the rookie UCP government, owns, with his wife, a private healthcare company which could benefit from UCP policy which, in case anybody missed it, is enthusiastic about privatizing Alberta’s heath services. While it’s true that his shares are in a blind trust and his wife is supposed to manage the company at arm’s length, the conflict of interest guidelines are very flimsy, to say the least (compared with an employee of a company holding a promotional contest: not only is chi disqualified to preclude perceivable conflict, so also are cher family members—which, if applied to the Shandros, Tyler’s missus would have to put her shares in a blind trust, too, else he be disqualified from sitting in on relevant policy-making deliberations).
Anyway, Tyler’s understanding of ethical behaviour was revealed by the excuse that he had neither his lawyer nor his politician hat on when he displayed disreputable behaviour after Dr Zaidi pointed out his perceivable conflict on a FaceBook post. One wonders which hat Shandro was wearing when he accosted Dr Zaidi in his driveway: a shining knight’s helm while defending his damsel in distress, perhaps? Does Shandro also have a special blind-trust night-cap just in case his business-partner wife lets slip forbidden information in the intimacy of the marital bed? ‘Wait a second, sweetie, I gotta put the visor down first.’ (Or does ‘lights-out’ qualify as ‘blind’?)
Still, gotta feel for Tyler: an impressionable young ProgCon volunteer with no parliamentary experience initially denounced the PC/WR merger but then fell under the spell of Jason Kenney and learned all the tricks of demagoguery at the K-Boy’s side: Stetsons for rural conservatives, Pickelhauben for the Soldiers of Odium, mitres for the religious right, and golden crowns for the separatists. And you can’t say the UCP has switched to a more ethical haberdasher, post-Kenney. No wonder poor Shandro got his hats mixed up when he improperly used government resources to obtain private phone numbers and inappropriately call doctors whilst they were embroiled in protest over the UCP’s unilateral adjustment of their pay: he thought he had his Al Capone fedora on when he was actually wearing a beanie. (But he did get the Chief Wiggum lid right in that ‘email-my-wife-again-and-I’m-calling-the-cops’ episode. Third time lucky?)
The matter of conflict perceived is rather the concern of voters, added to Shandro’s litany, of course, and hopefully their judgement is soon exercised. Not sure how incriminating it might be that Mr Shandro dragged Mrs Shandro along for the opening act: wouldn’t that constitute a breach of arm’s-length given her position of blind trustee? Further, it mighta been even dumber to invite comparison of death threats which both the Shandros and Dr Zaidi claim to have received in the heat of battle —that is, given the reputation of UCP supporters’ notable aggressiveness in this regard. I bet it won’t figure much in the present proceedings, but I wouldn’t bet against the Shandros showing up in balaclava and Che tam.
The Law Society of Alberta will have to sanction him, and likely that’s all they’ll do: state that Shandro has been sanctioned. Maybe, as he stands on the carpet before all and sundry, they’ll throw in a caustic, “…and take that stupid helmet off, right now!”
Chuckling…shades of Marvin (with the mustache) –you make me..very..angry!!!
Thanks for the tonic…
Onwards and upwards, as they say.
“In a subsequent statement Wednesday afternoon, Smith called for CBC to retract its story from last week in which sources said the premier’s office had emailed Crown prosecutors about Coutts-related cases. She called that story “outrageous” and “defamatory,” adding that CBC had not seen the emails in question.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-premiers-office-attorney-general-1.6724455
Obviously, it is time to forget about amateurs like Tyler Shandro and hire Jackie Chiles.
Jackie Chiles – Part 2: “Outrageous!!”
Shandro has a plausible excuse for the second half of the inquiry, that he contacted physicians who had accosted him in an elevator on their personal cell phones. It seems from the coverage I’ve read that AHS provided him with the numbers. He may not have asked for that specifically, just for a way to get ahold of them. Their best contact numbers should have been their office numbers, not their cell phones, but it’s also possible that AHS was not 100% aware of the numbers being personal either. Physicians often have a personal cell listed with hospitals for urgent or emergent contact so as not to have to carry two phones everywhere (not being “on call” is not a guarantee that someone won’t need to get in contact with you quickly). Regardless, I would be understandably nonplussed to receive a phone call from Shandro on my personal cell, after he’d visited Zaidi’s house (personal history notwithstanding), and would consider legal action against AHS for coughing my number up.
How about his “testimony” regarding how the confrontation on the driveway ended with his wife’s comments along the lines that there’s no use talking to him (Dr. Zaidi), the only thing he’s interested in is making money. Says the person looking to make money off private insurance with hubby as the Minister of Health.