[mobglob-discuss] Health Chiefs Paid $1 million While Hospital Beds Close

[Bob Wilson]

Health chiefs paid $1m while hospital beds close
The Vancouver Province
Fri 20 Feb 2004
Page: A5
Section: News
Byline: Michael Smyth
Column: In the House: B.C.'s Liveliest Opinions
Source: The Province

W hile the B.C. government was busy closing hospital beds and 
shutting nursing homes last year, regional health board directors 
were making a killing -- pocketing more than $1 million in fees and 
expenses.

Health-board directors raked in $1,002,572 in fees during the last 
fiscal year, according to documents newly released by the health 
authorities. The 57 board members, all directly appointed by the 
Gordon Campbell cabinet, also filed $102,271 in expense claims.

Health-board directors used to be voluntary positions. The Liberals 
decided to make them paid positions in 2001. Many have made a tidy 
sum at their part-time jobs.

Jac Kreut, the part-time chairman of the Vancouver Island Health 
Authority, was paid $44,500 in fees and $3,875 in expenses. The board 
held six public meetings in the past year.

"Most of these board chairs are business people with substantial 
incomes -- and here they are making big money on the side," NDP 
opposition leader Joy MacPhail complained yesterday.

Kreut is the Vancouver Island CEO of Terasen Gas. He's typical of the 
Liberals' health-board appointees, many of whom have big-business 
backgrounds.

Keith Purchase, the former CEO of TimberWest Forest Products, is the 
part-time chairman of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. 
Purchase collected $37,265 in fees in the last fiscal year.

Wynne Powell, the president of London Drugs, is chairman of the 
Provincial Health Services Authority. He made close to $20,000 in 
fees and expenses.

Health Services Minister Colin Hansen defended the payouts, saying 
the health board directors have stressful duties.
"These are huge organizations," he said, noting that the Vancouver 
Coastal Health Authority has a budget of close to $2 billion. "We 
need top-notch people providing that governance."

Board chairmen are paid $15,000 a year. Directors get $7,500. They 
receive $500 per meeting, per diems and expenses.
Chris Allnutt, head of the Hospital Employees Union, said the $1 
million spent on directors' fees could have been better utilized.

"In his budget speech, the finance minister said that dollars saved 
in health-care restructuring would go back into care for patients," 
Allnutt said.

The HEU, which has waged a running public-relations war with the 
government, plans to come out swinging at the Liberals today. The 
union has traced the corporate connections of health board directors, 
linking them to companies that donated more than $1 million to the 
B.C. Liberal Party since 1996.

"It's disgusting," Allnutt said.
But a defiant Hansen denied the government has stacked the health 
boards with patronage appointments.
"I'm quite proud of our group," he said.
Although Hansen admitted health board appointees used to work for 
free, he insisted the Liberals' restructured system is cheaper for 
taxpayers. That's because the Liberals reduced the number of health 
authorities from 52 under the NDP to just six.

But MacPhail said the Liberals have destroyed any sense of community 
involvement by filling the boards with forestry executives and resort 
owners.

"They've completely eroded the long-standing and honoured principle 
of volunteerism," she said.
I personally wouldn't care who the Liberals put on these boards if 
they were getting results for patients. Sadly, under their watch, 
surgery waiting lists have grown by 25 per cent.

I also have to wonder what kind of priorities these well-paid 
directors have when they spend $125,000 of your money on new 
corporate logos for their organizations. And don't forget the B.C. 
Supreme Court judge who lambasted the boards for illegally holding 
their meetings in secret.

Maybe it's time to bring back the volunteers.
Voice mail: 604-605-2004
E-mail: msmyth at direct.ca