Government agencies must have free speech

There are few reasons to sympathize with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), given its rather specious explanation of the so-called “hush memo.”

But the real culprit here seems to be a Saskatchewan Party government that’s surely responsible for the shroud of secrecy and message-control not only at the SHA, which it created, but throughout the entire provincial bureaucracy and the third-party organizations it funds. It’s a problem at the SHA, but it’s a problem everywhere.

The SHA memo unveiled in Question Period last week by the NDP Opposition warned doctors to be “mindful” of putting in meeting minutes anything that might eventually be seen publicly, via freedom of information (FOI) requests. “If you do not want to see it in the newspaper, then do not include it in the meeting minutes,” according to the memo’s payoff line.

What kind of chill does this put on meeting note-taking — or even thoughtful discussion — at publicly funded institutes? What’s the ultimate goal here? Silencing anything that’s vaguely critical of health-care delivery?

This was the concern of the NDP Opposition, which disclosed the memo in Question Period last week alleging that the government is trying to muzzle doctors in particular. It says much that the memo singles out doctors communicating to reporters, the College of Physicians and Surgeons or even the minister of health without prior SHA consent. But it says even more that the SHA memo focused on “communication standards” and “discordant messaging.”

Unsurprisingly, Health Minister Jim Reiter downplayed any notion that this is a topdown gag order, suggesting it was just a poorly worded warning about revealing private health information. This explanation was repeated by Chief Medical Officer Dr. Susan Shaw.

But there are a of couple problems with such explanations.

First, anyone seeking public information through FOI would see that any private information about patients — or even any information related to job performance — is automatically redacted. That’s the law, and those responsible for vetting FOI responses would be well aware of the law. Moreover, doctors who subscribe to oaths and codes of conduct that forbid them from breaching patient confidentiality are even more aware because their professional livelihood is based on this. Whatever this memo was talking about, it is clearly not that.

Second, that’s not what “discordant messaging” means. Maybe doctors and others needed to be warned about using SHA letterhead when they register their concerns to whomever, which would be legitimate enough and would somewhat explain concern over “discordant messaging.” But if that was truly the issue — as Reiter and the SHA also later suggested — why wouldn’t the memo have simply and directly talked about using SHA letterhead?

Credit Shaw for clarifying to reporters that the SHA “does not have a policy, nor has the SHA ever had any intent to restrict staff or physicians from exercising their right to free speech.” It’s an important thing to say, but whether it’s a sincere commitment by either the SHA or the provincial government remains to be seen.

There has been an ugly recent history in this province of shoddy treatment of whistleblowers — especially in health care. Consider the 2014 case of nursing-home worker Peter Bowden, whose own personal work history became a public issue after he raised legitimate concerns about the quality of care in nursing homes.

Perhaps one good thing emerging from the leaked memo is a quasi-commitment to extend whistleblower legislation to the SHA. However, that the SHA isn’t already included under the legislation says much about how the government views disclosure — or anything vaguely critical.

“They (the government) shouldn’t be looking into it. They should just do it,” NDP justice critic Nicole Sarauer said last Thursday. “It’s pretty clear this is needed in the province.”

This Sask. Party government struggles with the minimum when it comes to disclosure and emphasizes the maximum when it comes to spin.

It can and needs to do better if it truly wants Saskatchewan health care to be better.

Mandryk is the political columnist for the Regina Leader-post.