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HIGH RIVER, Alberta (LifeSiteNews) – Danielle Smith, a former MLA running for leadership of the United Conservative Party of Alberta (UCP), says if she becomes leader there will be a full review of health officials’ handling of COVID after it was shown that Alberta’s top doctor, whose name was on COVID mandates and lockdowns rules, received a massive pay bonus.
“‘We’re all in this together’ didn’t mean what we thought it did…Albertans are rightly stunned & outraged they gave Dr. Hinshaw @CMOH_Albertaa $228k Covid bonus,” Smith tweeted yesterday.
Smith added that under her leadership there will be a “full review into the handling of the pandemic, including the role our CMOH of health played in it.”
Smith said should she become premier she would never impose jab “mandates” or lock down the province.
It was recently shown that Alberta Chief Medical Officer Deena Hinshaw, who is being challenged in court due to her role in enacting draconian COVID rules in Alberta, receive a large pay bonus.
Hinshaw is paid $363,624 a year but was given a $227,911 “cash” bonus in 2021. Alberta Deputy Medical Officer Jing Hu was also given a large bonus totaling $142,534.
In total, more than $2.4 million in bonuses were paid out to healthcare managers and government bureaucrats in 2021.
This prompted the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) to say that Albertans should be up in arms over the bonuses.
According to the CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano, there is “no way Albertans should have to fund six-figure bonuses on top of six-figure salaries.”
“So many Albertans have suffered financially, not just during the pandemic, but for years before, as well,” said Terrazzano, as reported by the Western Standard.
Smith was not the only UCP leadership candidate to blast news of Hinshaw’s over half a million dollar salary in 2021.
Brian Jean, an UCP MLA, took issue with the large pay raise as well.
“While Albertans were losing businesses, while our health system was collapsing under mismanagement, the people on the Sky Palace balcony signed off on an all-time record bonus,” Jean tweeted yesterday.
“This bonus is a slap in the face to every Albertan who lost hours, lost a job, or lost their business. Cabinet made two years of bad decisions and this is just insult added to injury.”
Hinshaw is currently facing a long-delayed civil suit regarding whether her public health orders, which resulted in many being fired, were constitutional.
The suit, brought forth by the JCCF in 2020, is representing churches, a gym owner, and other individuals who are fighting Hinshaw’s “unconstitutional” health orders.
In April, a judge ruled that Hinshaw cannot cite “cabinet confidentiality” as a reason to avoid answering questions in court concerning her conversations with top government leaders regarding COVID rules.
In March, the government of Alberta dropped a COVID jab mandate for healthcare workers put in place late last year. It also dropped its vaccine passport and mask mandates.
Last fall, Hinshaw was forced to apologize for incorrectly saying a 14-year-old boy died of COVID when in fact he passed away because of terminal stage four brain cancer.
This prompted the deceased boy’s sister to blast political leaders for using his death for political gain.