Alberta government paid Dr. Deena Hinshaw record cash bonus in 2021

Alberta’s chief medical officer of well being final yr acquired the most important money profit payout of any provincial civil servant because the authorities started posting data in 2016.

Dr. Deena Hinshaw’s wage final yr was $363,634, however she additionally took house a further $227,911 in “money advantages” in the course of the 2021 calendar yr, in accordance with the Alberta government’s salary and severance disclosure database, which was up to date final month.

Hinshaw is considered one of 107 staff in administration positions who acquired further pay for his or her efforts in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial authorities says. The full further compensation value Albertans greater than $2.4 million.

“The dimensions of the response to this unprecedented public well being emergency required a rare quantity of further work from the Workplace of the Chief Medical Officer, the Vaccine Process drive, the Pandemic Response Crew and others, which is mirrored within the latest disclosure,” Ministry of Well being spokesperson Mark Feldbusch mentioned in an electronic mail final week.

He mentioned it’s a long-standing coverage on pay that has been in place throughout different emergencies, together with the Fort McMurray wildfires in 2016 and southern Alberta floods of 2013.

Hinshaw’s contract, which is posted online, doesn’t specify the variety of hours in her work week, nor does it embrace additional time provisions.

The Alberta authorities’s further pay to Hinshaw covers time she labored in extra of 45 hours per week. It was calculated utilizing a system devised by the general public service fee, Feldbusch mentioned.

He declined to say what number of hours of additional time she labored.

CBC Information in contrast Hinshaw’s compensation for the latest years accessible to that of her counterparts in 4 different provinces, in addition to that of Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public well being officer.

Dr. Bonnie Henry, of B.C., acquired $342,292 for the 2020-21 fiscal yr. Henry didn’t obtain any bonus pay in that point for pandemic administration, a B.C. authorities spokesperson mentioned.

Dr. Robert Strang, of Nova Scotia, acquired $305,645 in 2020-21. He didn’t obtain any further pay for pandemic administration throughout 2020-21 or 2021-22, a Nova Scotia authorities spokesperson mentioned.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, of Saskatchewan, acquired $411,416 in 2020-21 — about $78,000 greater than he acquired the earlier yr.

The Saskatchewan authorities can’t say if Shahab acquired a bonus, as a result of the regulation prevents it from releasing extra particulars about civil servants’ compensation, a Saskatchewan authorities spokesperson mentioned.

Ontario’s chief medical officer of well being, Dr. Kieran Moore, who began within the submit on June 26, 2021, acquired $235,314 in the 2021 calendar yr.

The Ontario authorities couldn’t disclose whether or not Moore acquired any bonus pay, a spokesperson mentioned.

Hinshaw’s further pay opaquely justified: bioethicist

Dr. James Talbot, a medical microbiologist, served as Alberta’s chief medical officer of well being from 2012 to 2015.

Talbot didn’t talk about further pay for potential extreme additional time with Alberta authorities human sources personnel whereas he was within the position, he mentioned.

The pandemic is an unprecedented state of affairs that required public well being officers to work quite a lot of additional time to correctly reply to the emergency, so it is truthful that Hinshaw was compensated for added work, Talbot mentioned.

Hinshaw’s complete compensation final yr — about $591,545 — is not out-of-line with what many medical specialists earn, he mentioned. However her workload was seemingly corresponding to that of her counterparts throughout this time, making her pay an outlier.

The Alberta authorities’s justification for the extra pay is opaque, mentioned Arthur Schafer, a bioethicist and founding director of the College of Manitoba’s Centre for Skilled and Utilized Ethics.

Hinshaw was one of many best-paid within the nation earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, and the provincial authorities hasn’t defined why her pay is a departure from what’s regular nationally, he mentioned.

“They’re blowing smoke within the public’s face,” Schafer mentioned. “Prime-level officers resembling Dr. Hinshaw usually are not paid to work a 40-hour week. They don’t seem to be salaried primarily based on the variety of hours they work. They’re given very excessive remuneration.”

Shifting ahead, Talbot expects medical officers of well being — and medical doctors making use of for these positions — to hunt further hazard pay, or assurances of safety from their respective provincial governments, given the general public outrage and threats Hinshaw and her counterparts have confronted.

“The quantity of stress that that place was underneath throughout the nation was additionally unprecedented,” he mentioned. “I used to be solely peripherally concerned, and I obtained dying threats.”

Since late Could 2021, the Alberta authorities has paid Value Langevin and Associates, a personal safety agency, greater than $262,000 to defend Hinshaw, in accordance with the province’s sole-source contracts diclosure database.