Smith says it wasn't her decision to nix job offer to Alberta public health doctor
CTV
Premier Danielle Smith is denying it was her decision to quash the hiring of Alberta's former chief medical officer to a new job at the province's health agency.
Premier Danielle Smith is denying it was her decision to quash the hiring of Alberta's former chief medical officer to a new job at the province's health agency.
Smith was responding to questions Monday following a Globe and Mail story that quoted a resignation letter from former Alberta Health Services senior executive Dr. Braden Manns.
In the letter dated June 11 cited by the newspaper, Manns said he quit his position to protest what he said was Smith's interference in reversing the decision to hire Dr. Deena Hinshaw for a job with the Indigenous Wellness Core of AHS.
Asked by reporters in Calgary if she interfered, Smith said," I talked with (AHS chief administrator John Cowell) on a weekly basis. We talked about staffing decisions a lot, and we have a major restructuring that we're doing in Alberta Health Services as well."
But Smith added: "Ultimately, it's the official administrator — and now the board and the CEO — who will make those decisions and it was the case in this instance, too, that the decisions of AHS were made by AHS."
When asked the same question a second time, she delivered the same response.
Manns and Cowell could not be immediately reached for comment.
