Alberta’s premier is laying the decision of rescinding a job offer to the embattled former chief medical officer of health at the feet of the man who was at the head of Alberta Health Services for one year.
At an unrelated press conference on Monday morning, Smith didn’t directly address allegations that she directed AHS to rescind an approved contract for Dr. Deena Hinshaw to become part of the AHS Indigenous Wellness Core.
The Globe and Mail first published those allegations, which stemmed from a resignation letter from Dr. Braden Manns, who was an interim VP at AHS.
In the letter verified by Global News, Manns said he was resigning because the premier “was reaching down four levels into AHS” to instruct that Hinshaw’s contract be pulled.
“Well, I can tell you that I put Dr. (John) Cowell in place to make these decisions. I talked with him on a weekly basis. We talked about staffing decisions a lot,” Smith told reporters on Monday.
“So ultimately, it’s the official administrator and now the board and the CEO who will make those decisions. And it was the case in this instance, too, that the decisions of AHS were made by AHS.”
According to Manns’ resignation letter, on June 1, the internal memo about hiring Hinshaw went out by the IWC, and “very shortly thereafter,” Manns was informed by then-CEO Mauro Chies that Cowell wanted to put a hold on the contract.
Later that day, Cowell told Manns that hiring Hinshaw was a “major problem” and Cowell took a call from the premier, Manns’ letter said.
Manns said a meeting after that call had Cowell reveal “the premier is firm that there can be no hiring of Dr. Hinshaw.”
“In response, I expressed my concern that the premier was reaching down four levels into AHS and instructing us to rescind an approved contract after a comprehensive search and selection committee process,” Manns wrote. Manns was overseeing the search and selection process, which took months to complete.
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