PROVINCE UNDER FIRE
NDP bristles over health board vetting process
The Saskatchewan NDP is blasting the provincial government’s appointment process after one of the directors of its new Saskatchewan Health Authority resigned over a series of “unacceptable” posts shared on his personal Facebook page, including one less than a week before he was named to the new organization’s board.
Don Rae, who is the president and CEO of Yorkton-based Crusader Drilling Corp., submitted his resignation to Health Minister Jim Reiter on Thursday, hours after the Saskatoon StarPhoenix uncovered the posts mocking Mexicans, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former U.S. president Barack Obama. Rae also resigned as chair of the Sunrise Regional Health Authority board.
“This person made the top 10 list of all the potential directors? You’ve got to be kidding me,” said NDP health critic and Saskatoon-Riversdale MLA Danielle Chartier. “I think that speaks volumes, that they didn’t do a thorough vetting process. The social media stuff is horrible and atrocious … but it speaks to management.”
Announced by the Saskatchewan Party late last year ahead of its 2017-18 budget, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will replace the 12 health regions currently overseeing health care in the province. It will be headquartered in Saskatoon, employ around 43,000 and have a budget of more than $3 billion — 21 per cent of the provincial government’s total annual expenditures.
Chartier said while she has general concerns about health region amalgamation and Rae’s personal conduct, she is more worried about the Saskatchewan Party’s decision to appoint someone with perspectives that do not “have a place in Saskatchewan” to assist in running a complex, multibillion-dollar organization.
I think that speaks volumes, that they didn’t do a thorough vetting process. The social media stuff is horrible and atrocious.
“It’s 2017 and I think about the Sask. Party government and the minister of health not properly vetting candidates to run our health region — sloppiness? Not doing due diligence? I don’t have a theory (but) I think this speaks to this government’s inability to manage health care.”
Rae did not undergo “significant vetting ” because he was “already in the system,” Reiter told reporters Friday in Saskatoon. Rae joined the Sunrise Regional Health Authority board in 2011. Although he held a position on that board, including as its chair, for six years, the health minister described Rae as someone who is not accustomed to “media attention.”
“We’ll probably have some discussions on (vetting), again,” Reiter said, adding that he aimed to appoint five experienced health region directors and five “new sets of eyes” to the SHA board, and that the government’s vetting efforts were primarily aimed at those directors who are new to the system.
This is not the first time Rae has been criticized for his use of social media. The NDP criticized him last week for sharing on Facebook a separate post saying Trudeau’s Liberal government wants to “coparent” children and teach them about “anal sex and made up genders,” according to a CBC News report. Rae told CBC the posts did not “reflect” his views.
Rae could not be reached for comment on Friday. In a brief statement provided to the StarPhoenix following his resignation, the former Yorkton Chamber of Commerce president said he regretted sharing the “inappropriate” posts, and that while he thought he could have served on the SHA board, he resigned to avoid creating “a distraction from that work.”
Rae’s resignation is merely the latest in a long string of Internetrelated controversies that have led to Saskatchewan Party MLA Eric Olauson losing a committee post and a seat on the Meewasin Valley Authority board, and four NDP candidates being removed from the ballot by that party’s former leader, Cam Broten, ahead of the last provincial general election.
While social media is a comparatively new phenomenon, Saskatchewan politicians have been apologizing for inappropriate remarks for years. In 2008, for example, Premier Brad Wall was forced to apologize for remarks he made about then-NDP leader Roy Romanow 17 years earlier, which had been captured on an amateur video recording.
University of Saskatchewan political studies professor Greg Poelzer told the StarPhoenix last year that while there is less tolerance than ever for inappropriate behaviour among political figures, recent social media posts are far more damaging than posts made years earlier. One of the posts that led to Rae’s resignation was shared less than a week before his appointment to the SHA board.