Alberta NDP appoint B. C. ‘ apparatchik’
Notley spokeswoman rejects charge that public service being politicized
The Wildrose opposition alleged Monday that Premier Rachel Notley is politicizing Alberta’s civil service by appointing an NDP “apparatchik” to a new $ 287,000- a- year position, but the NDP says they’ve just hired the right man for a shortterm job.
Last week, Notley and her cabinet appointed veteran B. C. NDP fixer John Heaney to the newly created position of associate deputy minister of policy and planning.
Heaney has a controversial history as a backroom player in B. C., holding both political and civil service positions inside government and working as a lobbyist, lawyer and party supporter outside government.
Wildrose finance critic MLA Derek Fildebrandt said while it would have been perfectly appropriate to appoint a political operator such as Heaney to the politicized premier’s office, it’s not appropriate to appoint him to the non- partisan civil service.
“The government is supposed to have a very clear dividing line between the political, elected wing and the non- partisan bureaucratic wing, which is supposed to carry out the wishes of the elected officials,” Fildebrandt said.
“Using the non- partisan public service to reward a partisan apparatchik is very damaging to the ability of the public service to do what is in the best interest of all Albertans,” he said. “It is the very thing the Tories have done for decades.”
Heaney is currently on unpaid leave from his job as chief of staff to B. C. NDP opposition leader John Horgan. He has been appointed as an “acting” assistant deputy minister, and Notley spokeswoman Cheryl Oates said he is expected to complete his work by the end of July and return to B. C.
“We are not moving to politicize the civil service,” Oates said in an email. “We have reached out to John Heaney because he did this work for ( former) premier ( Mike) Harcourt in British Columbia, whose government was built on a model similar to what this government is built on.”
Oates noted deputy ministers are appointed on the recommendation of Richard Dicerni, Alberta’s civil service boss.
“Our government needs to have a close connection with the civil service,” she said. “This is a relatively new civil service and our government has a list of ambitious and robust policy changes we want to implement.”
The new job falls in the highest salary range for civil servants. Heaney joins an exclusive club of eight top- paid civil servants that includes Alberta’s international representatives and the Public Service Commissioner, all of whom earn between $ 213,000 and $ 287,000 a year, with a raise of up to $ 7,000 scheduled for next year.
Asked what the job description is, Oates said: “He will play an important part of ensuring we work with the civil service to do the work we promised Albertans we would do.”
While Heaney was working under Harcourt, B. C. opposition Liberals called for an inquiry into why the premier’s “political damage- control unit” was hidden in the public government services ministry.
An opposition MLA said at the time it was improper for the Public Issues and Consultation Branch — headed by Heaney — to be attached to government.