Alberta Political Psychology

After the 2012 provincial election many Albertans were astounded that the PCs were re elected. Many were left asking how anyone could support a corrupt organization.

Here's the parody that describes what exactly happened:

If you start with a cage containing five monkeys and inside the cage, hang a banana on a string from the top and then you place a set of stairs under the banana, before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana. 

As soon as he touches the stairs, you spray all the other monkeys with cold water. 

After a while another monkey makes an attempt with same result all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put the cold water away. 

Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To his shock, all of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs he will be assaulted. 

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys, replacing it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer will take part in the punishment because he is now part of the "team". 

Then, replace a third original monkey with a new one, followed by the fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs he is attacked. 

Now, the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. 

Finally, having replaced all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, not one of the monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the banana. 

Why, you ask? Because in their minds, that is the way it has always been! 

This is the mindset that returned the Alberta PCs to power. 

The moral of this story is.....

ALL of the monkeys need to be replaced at the same time.

The Minister of Quagmire

The Alberta Health Care Minister Fred Horne seems lost in a room full of breakables. He appears to be flailing around recklessly reacting to even the slightest sound.

“We're in a bit of a legal quagmire.”

Translation: 

“We screwed this up pretty bad and it’s about to go sideways.”

This was in reference to the 2012 2013 bonuses for past performances that are stipulated in the contracts of the AHS board members Horne fired earlier this week.

“It’s a very complicated issue legally. I’m not a lawyer.”

Judging by Fred Horne’s abilities as the Minister of Health he’s not very good at that either, in fact his performance could be summed up in one word “Failure”

“What I do know is Albertans spoke clearly about how they felt on this issue. None of us can really speculate on what some of the options might be.”

It appears that the Health Minister is stumbling around in the dark looking for a light switch all the while knocking over the fine china. Simply making the statement that he isn't sure what the options might be does not fill me with confidence in his abilities.

It stands to reason that any intelligent CEO or Minister would have that information in his hand before recklessly doing things like a three legged elephant in a china shop.

The AHS board should be gone and no bonuses should be paid based on the state of our Healthcare system but then again the failure seems to seep down from the top.

Put the celebration on hold

The Alberta Health Minister's firing of the AHS board is a beginning not the solution. The cheer leading that seems to be coming from inside of this government is another lame attempt to distract from the open sore that remains. 

The firings were a step in the right direction, a single step. Does anyone really think that the chaos Alberta health care is in will be suddenly solved by this move? It seems like that what they're selling this as.

Like an old time snake oil salesman, the Alberta government continues to play the smoke and mirrors game. This is merely a small, a very small step in the right direction.

Rehiring a board of any kind will continue to serve as insulation from responsibility for the person that should be ultimately responsible for the goings on in Alberta's Health Care system, the Health Minister.

The game continues, zero responsibility and zero solutions, plenty of failure.

The barking little dog

Jennie's response to Baranski

It's seems the bullying by the Alberta government knows no boundaries as Alison Redford's attack Chihuahua barked at Jennie Russell an Associate producer with CBC Edmonton.

It seems Russell had the audacity to call out the government of Premier Alison Redford for undermining the independence of the justice system by inserting a partisan statement into news releases announcing judicial appointments, critics say.

Link to her story

This in a case of what happens when you don’t tow the government line they attempt to eliminate you as a problem. What next? Thumb screws and the rack? 

Maybe Dave?

Dave Rutherford

Dave Rutherford today fueled speculation by not taking the possibility of running for the position of Mayor of Calgary of the table. Interesting concept.

Is that nervous laughter I hear? 

Good luck Dave.

PDD Message

I was asked if I would you share this on my site. I'm happy to help out.

A more personal view of how the cuts to PDD affect one agency. 

Associate Minister Frank Oberle will be hosting a public forum on:

Wednesday, 

May 29th 

From 3pm to 5pm 

At the Italian Cultural Centre 

14230 133 Avenue, 

Edmonton. 

As many of you may have heard, the recent budget released by the Government of Alberta included a significant budget decrease to community access programs. During the week of May 13th, PDD presented the percentage (14%) that Excel Society would need to cut from our entire PDD budget (not just Community Access) by July 1st. 

For Excel Society, Edmonton, this means we will have to cut just under $770,000 and this is only the first phase. (We still don't know how much will be cut in Calgary). Phase One is strictly a ‘budget cut’ to the organization and does not include changes as a result of the SIS assessments. This is unacceptable and will greatly reduce the quality of life for our clients, as well as put the health and safety of our staff and clients at risk. 

Associate Minister Oberle has to hear from all of us that these cuts cannot happen. Associate Minister Frank Oberle continues to express that the cuts they are proposing will not affect services, but these cuts WILL be significant and WILL affect services as well as jobs. They have also indicated that we will have additional cuts come April 2014.

Robo-calls and Slime balls

A guest post by C.B.

Let's sort out the nature and intention of these calls. The PC's would like everyone to believe these calls were similar to the ones made in Guelph, where they deliberately tried to mislead voters to go to a different polling station other than their designated one. Wrong? Yes. Who did it no-one knows. Still.

Wildrose pays a company to make calls for them during the 2012 election. Someone, somewhere made an honest MISTAKE by not identifying the caller. Unfortunately a federal law was broken, a fine was levied. The rest is ongoing…

The PC Party? They admitted to deliberately misleading voters with UNIDENTIFIED calls, but claim it was a research poll and CRTC rules don't apply. Not illegal? Maybe, who knows. Maybe the CRTC is still investigating. There is still an ongoing investigation according to Global Edmonton. 

The PC Poll was certainly unethical, just like the Katz donation, which the PC's have craftily skirted around by changing our election laws to tie the hands of their appointed Chief Electoral Officer. Nice and neat, their gift to themselves for another majority government made up of PC dominated committees.

So which one of these calls was not like the other? Two were intentional sleazy tricks. One was not. Alison and her Ministers can go on all they want about the CRTC decision, but we all know the difference.

-C.B.

Dear Alison

Dear Alison,

You have obviously no clue what the word "responsibility" means. The violation by the Wildrose party was freely accepted by them and the fine paid. You and your party on the other hand have accepted zero responsibility for anything for many many years. 

Your "glass houses" comment almost made me fall of my chair laughing. Ms. Redford people that live in glass Legislative buildings really shouldn't be talking about transparency and accountability when at every turn denial is the response. Your pathetic attempt to constantly place blame with the opposition parties has become a reflex with you and your party and misses the mark by a mile. In case you forgot, they aren't in charge, you are.

Telling the Widlrose party that you are "disappointed" in them is a little hard to swallow as you preach your doctrine from the top of a $430,000 pile of illegally obtained donations. Unlike your organization they were unable to be in control of the organization doing the investigation. 

In closing I would like to add that I feel you have one of the most transparent governments I have ever seen..... we can all see right through every word that comes out of your mouth and it becoming less and less believable by the day.

-Joe Albertan

The angry Manmeet

In an extreme overreaction to posts made on an open Facebook page, MLA Manmeet Bhullar issued a ridiculous statement demanding Danielle Smith apologize for comments that were made on the post.

Mr. Bhullar I have a challenge for you. If you will let me have a staff of five and if I find some form of repugnant behaviour by any PC members on Facebook will it be ok for me to demand you apologize every time I find something? 

What the angry MLA doesn't seem to grasp is that you can not have control of a Facebook page 24/7. It also seems that he has never visited his bosses page that is full of off color comments that are regularly deleted, as they should be. 

Racism has no place in any part of our society and neither does making a false accusation of racism. 

What's truly scary is that an elected member of the Legislature is unable to disseminate what is fact and what isn't on the internet. 

Mr Bhullar here are some examples of things on the net that may not true:

If anyone should apologize it's Manmeet Bhullar for this lame attempt at chicken #%$& politics.

Simply ridiculous.

Too little too late

“We are not going to voluntarily do anything with respect to his severance,” 

“We are not going to simply sit back and take a look at what he may or may not feel he’s entitled to without resisting that.”

“It’s not acceptable.”

- Alison Redford.

Former health exec Allaudin Merali will seek more than the half million dollars in severance laid out in his ridiculously lucrative contract.

Question: What kind of management gives out contracts like this in the first place? 

Answer: Bad management.

Now along comes Redford posing as a saviour riding her magic broomstick pretending that somehow she can overcome the basic rules of contract law. The real problem is that the contract was signed in the first place, which leaves us little if any recourse unless Merali has broken the contract which by the sounds of how long he was actually on the job it has not likely happened.

Merali racked up $368,000 in expenses while he was the head of AHS finances the first time from 2005 to 2008. Merali already had this previous track record prior to being hired back by AHS which brings into question the why he was rehired at all.

Merali’s expenses included such necessities as fine wines, butler service and a phone for his Mercedes. The expenses are only the tip of the iceberg when you consider his base salary was $531,000 per year.

“Mr. Merali will receive a severance in accordance with the terms of his employment contract.”

For all of you keeping score that will be one full year’s wages for three months on the job. How is this even possible? Who in their right mind would ever even consider a contract that would allow an employee of three months to quit and then collect a full year's salary as severance?

More questions than answers are lingering on this whole situation.

The contract itself needs to be released so the people responsible for this contract (the Alberta public) can see what we’re on the hook for. Along with that we should also have the list of AHS executives and government people that were aware of this contract so those responsible for this mess can be terminated without delay.

The blame falls directly on the shoulders of a government that allowed this get out of control. 

While Ms. Redford is crowing about how they'll fight these contracted entitlements don't forget that the whole situation boils down to just one thing, plain old bad management for signing this contract in the first place. 

The scariest part of this is how many more of these contracts are out there that we don't know about?

Return to sender

Return to sender

Soon Albertans will be going to their mailboxes across the province to find a piece of what can only be described as government propaganda.

This taxpayer funded brochure emblazoned with the Alberta PC colors is a monument to how far out of control the Alberta government's sense of entitlement has progressed.

If you're as annoyed and put off as most Albertans are about this abuse of taxpayers money let them know. Send it back to the Premier's office: 

Constituency office:

6, 22 Richard Way S.W.

Calgary, Ab

T3E 7M9

or her Legislature office:

307 Legislature Building
10800 97 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
Canada T5K 2B6

Make sure you send along a note and let them know what you think of this blatant misuse of taxpayers money.

Just a reminder to send each one individually to make sure they have to open them all.

A remarkable young man

This came across my screen earlier today and I felt like I had to share it with everyone. Paul Sawka is a remarkable young man.

Paul can speak from the perspective that most of us will never know. He faces many challenges and it obvious he overcomes those challenges without backing down.

This young man is very concerned about the cuts to PDD in Alberta as I am. Paul wrote this letter explaining the impact PDD has had on his life. 

Please share this, Paul's thoughts need to be heard.

Paul Sawka

An open letter to Premier Redford

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Paul

Hello Premier Redford,

My name is Paul Sawka. I am the Awareness Leader at the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. CDSS began in Calgary in 1987 and has been part of the Alberta community ever since.

I have accomplished a lot of great things in my life, but I could not have done it without the help of my family, friends, and support workers.

On behalf of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, I want to talk to you about how important it has been to have support through the Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) program. I am one of the many people in Alberta who has benefited from PDD support. Through PDD, I am able to have support workers.

It is very important for me to have support workers to help me. I have three support workers. One helps me at work, and two help me with my personal life.

One place I really appreciate their support is with my sports. Without my support workers to help me get to where I need to go I might not be able to play Special Olympics sports or swim on the Calgary Dolphins swim team. Playing sports is good for my health and also gives me an opportunity to be part of a team. I have met many friends playing sports.

The friendships I have made through my activities are very important to me and I would be very sad if I was no longer able to be a part of these activities.

I also have a support worker who helps me at my job. I would not be able to do my job without support. She comes to the Canadian Down Syndrome Society office to help me with my work tasks.

By having help at work I am able to hold a job and make money to support myself. I was even able to move out on my own. I am very proud that I can afford to live in my own apartment. I pay taxes, like everyone else. I contribute to society and to Alberta’s growth.

If my supports were taken away because there was not enough funding my life would change a lot. I would be stuck living with my parents and I likely wouldn't have the great job that I have. I also would probably not be able to play sports and have the friendships that I have. I would be very sad if these things were to happen.

All the things in my life that I am very proud of would be taken away from me because I wouldn’t have the help I need to accomplish them. Losing my support would change my life negatively but it would be worse for many other people with disabilities.

I am lucky because I am capable of many things. I went to university and I got a job. I know how to take public transportation. I can accomplish great things but I still need some help sometimes. There are many other people with disabilities who would have a much harder time accomplishing all that I have or are unable to accomplish those things. If those people lose their funding they would not have any way to get money and support themselves. I think the government would be wrong to take away funding because we need the money to have our own lives.

I hope you listen to what I have said. A lot of people are speaking out about this important issue and as a self-advocate working at the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, I am able to represent people with Down syndrome.

I am proud to give voice to Albertans with developmental disabilities.

Thank you for your time,

Paul Sawka

Paul's Blog

Horrible Bosses II

The more than $2.1 million in severance that has been paid to departing members of the premier’s staff over the past three years is indicative of the mentality of the Alberta government. In true Redford fashion she is refusing to say who received the payments. In fact apparently it’s so bad she won't even reveal how many staff received the taxpayer funded settlements.

Is this more of the accountability Ms. Redford repeatedly claimed this government would have? I guess we really shouldn't be surprised coming from a person that rarely has the actions to match her words.

Derek Fildebrandt of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation asked a very interesting question “You're telling me severance payments are a state secret if they are issued by executive council?”

I’m very interested in the answer to that question as well. It seems to me that these people have decided that our money is their money to do with what they wish. The abuse is hitting an all time high with scandal after scandal unfolding daily.

As far as the staff turnover within this government goes, it’s no surprise at all that they get fired or let go at all. Just take a walk through Twitter on a daily basis to watch the ministerial staff openly mocking Opposition MLAs publically. 

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP) Act has become the only way Albertans achieve any transparency or accountability today. Consider that these are government employees being given public money and yet the only way to get at any of this information is to pay for a FOIP request? Transparency? Accountability? Sure, for a price.

In spite of the decision by the Freedom of Information and Privacy Commissioner who ruled previously that severance payments to publicly appointed officials must be disclosed during the Klein days. oh how times have change and not for the better.

Yeah they're not hiding anything…sure.

How could we forget about the screaming matches in Ms. Redford’s office that have been described as “legendary.” Just more of that endearing charm, only now we get to see that there’s price for it.

Return to sender

If you happen to receive one of these in the mail from the Alberta government and you would like to make a point I encourage you to send it back to Alison Redford's office along with your thoughts on this abuse of taxpayers money. 

Spend a buck and make a point. 

Return your campaign brochure to:

6, 22 Richard Way SW 

Calgary, AB

T3E 7M9

Not something to be proud of

This is in response to a column written by Alison Redford and published in the Herald online.

The Article

The response:

This year's budget was the reaction of a leader and a party in trouble. A party that knowingly made promises it knew it could not possibly keep without a large bump in energy prices or a large deficit. Well the bump didn't happen so....

Alberta has not lived within it's means for years under two of the worst premiers in the history of this province and possibly Canada. Irresponsible spending intended for strictly political purposes has created a huge hole in the finances and fiscal well being of Alberta. In a business setting if a public company were to conduct its fiscal budgeting in this manner the board of directors would be removed and charged with fraud. 

Alison Redford has lead a government that will be responsible for a debt that will quite likely take a generation to correct. 

Not something to be proud of.

Hate in the classroom, again

Alison Redford is warning young schoolchildren to "beware of the Opposition Wildrose party because it is committed to not building anything."  She managed to take the opportunity to throw knives at the Opposition, in Calgary on Wednesday and followed it up with more of the same in Edmonton on Thursday.

The words and the tone spoken in front of a classroom full of 1st grade students by Ms. Redford, were spiteful and hateful in nature. It got me to thinking about the implications of spouting venomous words and statements around in front of a room full of children - then it hit me; we've been here before in 1984.

Hate Speech is defined as follows: Hate Speech is, communication that vilifies a person or a group based on discrimination against that person or group.

Let me ask a question: What other reason would she have to say the things she said, if not to incite hate?

Hate in a classroom - ring a bell? Jim Keegstra? In 1984, Keegstra was stripped of his Teaching Certificate and was charged under the Criminal Code of Canada with "wilfully promoting hatred against an identifiable group" by teaching his social studies students that the Holocaust was a fraud and attributing various evil qualities to Jews.

Hate is hate and it has no place at all in a classroom. That's why Keegstra was convicted. Keegstra was given a fine of $5,000 which was reduced to a one-year suspended sentence, one year of probation, and 200 hours of community service work by the Alberta Court of Appeal.

Preaching hate of any kind is unacceptable and James Keegstra was deservedly convicted of violating the trust of the classroom. It's disturbing to think that we have a Premier of Alberta capable of promoting hate in a classroom to 1st grade students. 

This is wrong on every level. Keegstra got charged and lost his job. Why is Redford above that same law? It's becoming obvious her communications staff has gone pretty far downhill since the departure of Jay O'Neil, like him or hate him, he at least had some class. These people she has now are callas and are in my opinion, ignorant

Her actions were unacceptable in every way. 

This should end with her resignation.

A very ugly death

Brian Fjeldheim

The Alberta PCs did not break election contribution laws when they accepted a $430,000 bank draft from a company owned by Oilers owner Daryl Katz according to the government appointed staff at Elections Alberta.

The claim is that one cheque was broken down into smaller increments attributed to a list of contributors, which for some reason was never mentioned when the contribution was made.

As much as Alison Redford and her angry venom spitting Ministers would like to change the channel right now with the controversy they have underway but that's not likely to happen.

We all know what this was. Regardless of how many times they say it was legal it still doesn't have the magical ability to make it ethical. This undermines every taxpayer in Alberta and it should be worrisome. What's to stop the properly motivated billionaire or corporation from buying themselves a government? This has likely already happened.

Democracy died a very ugly death in Alberta with this decision.

PROMISE MADE, PROMISE BROKEN!!!!!!

Kent Hehr

The Alberta government is making a $42-million cut to provincial support programs for people with disabilities. You had to know there was going to be consequences to the AISH increase. 

Liberal MLA and all around good guy Kent Hehr spoke at a rally on Wednesday and told those in attendance, “We have a fighting chance to keep this program alive,”“Unless government hears from us and people in the community, they won’t know how devastating these cuts will be.”

Devastating is a good word for this cut. It sickens me to know that they're handing hundreds of millions of dollars to their corporate supporters while these people are asking for so little in comparison. I guess it depends on what you can do for them that determines the priorities of the Alberta government.

Kent also pointed out that Alison Redford’s pledges to respect people with disabilities has been effectively broken.

Well kent I guess that means:

PROMISE MADE, PROMISE BROKEN!!!!!!

Another "error" in judgment

Michele Lahey

Michelle Lahey a health executive who billed taxpayers $7,000 for a trip to the Mayo Clinic also expensed more than $10,000 for lavish dinners, booze and charity balls. 

Documents released by the Wildrose opposition show former Capital Health vice-president Michele Lahey expensed $4,300 for the Nov. 5, 2005, St. Joseph’s Annual Gala Fundraiser, which Lahey described as a “heavenly evening of dining” on her expense form. Well isn't that just swell? I would hate to think that Lahey  expensed $4,300 and didn't enjoy herself. 

She also expensed:

$3,000 for St. Joseph’s College Gala,

$1,200 to the Hope Foundation of Alberta,

$1,700 to host the Friar’s Ball

Lahey expensed the donations to Capital Health and they were approved by health authority CEO Sheila Weatherill. That's right good old Sheila.

So Sheila has that volition working these days? You know the same volition that Fred Horne said was the reason you paid the $7,800 back for Lahey in what you called an "error in your judgement".

So it appears now that she has had a serious "error in your volition" from last week. Let's not forget her good buddy and new best pal Fred Horne. So what's his excuse for why we still don't need an investigation into more bogus expense claims? 

This thing is no longer smoking, now it's a full three alarm blaze and this government is determined to continue to look the other way. That tells me that it's worse than we could imagine and they just can't let that cat escape from the bag. 

These people are criminals and the Premier, Justice Minister and Health Minister are accessories to this criminal activity for wilfully allowing this to go uninvestigated and worse unpunished. You can not tell me that the second the first case broke they didn't investigate on some level, I'm simply not that naive. 

They know a lot more than they're letting on, this is just damage control.

Baranski's BS

Stefan Baranski,  Alison Redford's chief communications person seems to share the same deceptive lawyer like qualities his boss possesses. 

This appeared in a column by Rick Bell this morning

"Wildrose doesn't believe in climate change" 

-Stefan Baranski

A lie that Baranski knows is a blatant lie and has been established as such. This comment has been brought up in the Legislature on a point of order on several occasions recently but obviously Baranski has a comprehension problem, or he's exhibiting a voluntary case of selective memory. Or maybe he's just lying?

The ruling of Speaker Gene Zwozdesky from April 8, 2013 on exactly this statement, made by :(copy and pasted from Hansard)

"We’ve dealt with this before. In fact, it was most recently dealt with by my Deputy Speaker on March 20, I believe, where the same allegation was being made and the same factual accuracy points were described, and it’s all to do with use of the term “climate change deniers.” Let me say this. Let’s put an end to that term in this House. It’s had its mileage, and it’s been used on this side to some effect. It’s been used on this side to their effect, and it’s just time to move on and get on with some choice of new words. So let that stand as a ruling on that point for now, and I won’t take up more of the House’s time."

Link to Hansard, see page 21

In true lawyerly fashion he makes erroneous statements knowing full well they're false, also knowing that you can't unring a bell. Much in the same fashion a morally corrupt lawyer will make a statement that they know a judge will instruct the jury to disregard, he fires off lie after lie. How many people actually believe that when a jury is told to disregard a statement, that they actually 100% disregard it? 

Like his leader Baranski is more than willing to twist words and meanings to cover the tracks of falsehoods and untruths. 

The Premier's 8 communications people have one job, to spin everything and every word that the taxpayers see and hear, regardless of facts. 

Judging by the statements we constantly see coming  from this man , the truth plays no part in how he does his job. Maybe that's why he had to leave Ontario, by the way who was it he used to work for?

Link to Rick Bell's article

False Volition

Sheila Weatherill

After being exposed in the Alberta Legislature Former Capital Health CEO Sheila Weatherill says she will pay back $7,800 to cover for an employee’s trip and treatments at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. She claims it was an “error” that she had approved the expenses.

An error? Really? The only error here was being found out.

It would stand to reason that if this had happened at any other point during her time in the office she would know about it. Especially now when you consider that it has turned into a major issue inside and outside of AHS.

Health Minister Fred Horne made the claim that this is being done of her own volition.

Her own volition? Really? Her volition seems to need a real good shove to come to the surface.

Well I do believe Sheila Weatherill has thrown down the gauntlet.

So Sheila, if there is even one more case of an “error” in your judgement that is not contained in this version of your “volition” that will mean your lying today, just like you were lying right up to the moment that good old volition has kicked in just today.

I’m pretty sure when all the polls are in we’ll find out that your volition has the initials B.S.

 vo·li·tion  [voh-lish-uhn, vuh-] 

noun

the act of willing, choosing, or resolving; exercise of willing: She left of her own volition.

choice or decision made by the will.

Let’s not forget about the man that is ultimately responsible for the mess known as the AHS, Fred Horne. He’s selling this story so when it collapses the curtain will fall and the Health Minister will be exposed for what he is and that will not be pretty.

The Alberta government has lost control of AHS that is becoming abundantly clear.

More AHS excess

Michele Lahey, a former AHS health care executive who was told by her former boss Shelia Weatherill to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota will not return the $7,225.30 expensed for the second opinion she received at the clinic. Lahey expensed the entire trip including hotel and expenses.

Health Minister Fred Horne belligerently claimed that something like the Lahey case wouldn’t happen while he was at the helm and that the Lahey case was "in the past".

Enter former AHS executive Alison Tonge. It seems that she was allowed to expense treatments at a private clinic in Edmonton  in December of 2011, in a case of another AHS executive jumping to the head of the line. This expense was approved by none other than AHS boss Dr Chris Eagle himself. 

As bad as that is it's really not even the worst part of the Alison Tonge story, her bloated compensation package was.

Were any of you aware that AHS executives were getting professional sports style contracts? After just two years on the job she walked away with nearly half a million dollars in severance:

Severance = $426,576 

Bonus =$44,511 

Relocation allowance = $15,000 in relocation cash 

For a total exit compensation of - $486,087.00

I would say we've found a major problem in our Health Care system. This is a pretty good contributor to the open financial wound that is bleeding cash profusely.

Maybe it's time to demand an audit to find out just how many of these ridiculous contracts AHS has out there that we're on the hook for. This government once again shows their lack of ability when it comes to handling the provinces finances.