Dix includes key NDP allies on health boards
Health Minister Adrian Dix made 15 appointments to regional health boards on Friday, with some of the names signifying a political changing of the guard as key NDP supporters were added to boards while prominent B.C. Liberals departed.
In the most high-profile appointment, Dix named prominent labour leader Jim Sinclair, the former longtime president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, as chairman of the Fraser Health Authority, a position that carries potential remuneration of $45,000 per year.
Sinclair replaces chairwoman Karen Matty, a prominent Abbotsford developer whose firm has made significant donations to the B.C. Liberals, filings with Elections B.C. show.
Dix characterized the appointments as a balanced set of decisions, aimed at making small changes that maintain the institutional memory of each board. And the majority on each board, Dix said, will still be directors appointed by former health minister Terry Lake.
“I think a fair view of this is to look at the list and say, ‘What happened here?’ ” Dix said in an interview.
“What happened here is we chose outstanding people.”
Dix said some of the appointees do have ties to the labour movement, “but I make no apologies about that,” considering their experience.
Dix said the changes represent a different approach from the B.C. Liberal move upon election in 2001 to jettison all health authority directors in a major reorganization that winnowed 52 health boards down to six.
Political scientist Hamish Telford said there is an element of politics involved in such appointments since government relies on organizations, such as health authorities, to implement new policies.
“Part of it is that governments want authorities to be receptive,” said Telford, a professor at the University of the Fraser Valley.
However, there is also an element of patronage, “to reward people who undertake efforts to help parties get elected.”
Besides Sinclair, Dix named Cindy Stewart, a former vicepresident of the labour federation and retired president of the Health Sciences Association, as a member to the Interior Health board, and Frank Everitt, president of the United Steel Workers Local 1-424, to the Northern Health board.
Sherry Ogasawara, a population health dietitian, who also ran as an NDP candidate in the 2013 election in Prince George-Valemount but lost to Shirley Bond, was also named as a director to the Northern Health board.
Among the departing directors are former Prince George MLA Pat Bell, who is leaving the Northern Health board; former Victoriaarea MLA Ida Chong, leaving the Provincial Health Services board; former Vancouver MLA Margaret MacDiarmid, departing the Vancouver Coastal Health’s board; and former Surrey city councillor Barinder Rasode, who is leaving the Fraser Health board.
Kip Woodward, chairman of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, is among B.C. Liberal appointees keeping their positions.
Woodward is part of the investment group, with Dr. Brian Day, in the Cambie Surgery Centre, which is suing the province. The trial resumes Oct. 30.
Other new appointments include Dr. Doug Cochrane, professor emeritus in neurosurgery at UBC, as chairman of Interior Health; Leah Hollins, a former deputy minister of health and Order of Canada recipient, as chairwoman of Island Health; and Colleen Nyce, the retired corporate affairs and community relations director for Rio Tinto Alcan, as chairwoman of Northern Health.
Other board appointees were Willie Charlie and Opreet Kang to the Fraser Health Board, Selena Lawrie to the Interior Health board, Gary Pooni to the board of Provincial Health Services, and Wendy Au and Vi Nguyen to the board of Vancouver Coastal Health.