Dr. Dina Hinshaw’s salary last year was $363,634, but she also got an additional $227,911 in “cash benefits” in the 2021 calendar year, according to the Alberta government’s salary and termination disclosure database, which was updated last month. Hinshaw is one of 107 employees in management positions who received extra pay for their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, the provincial government says. The total additional compensation cost Albertans more than $2.4 million. “The scale of the response to this unprecedented public health emergency required an extraordinary amount of additional work by the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, the Vaccine Task Force, the Pandemic Response Team and others, which is reflected in the recent disclosure,” The Health spokesman Mark Feldbusch said in an email last week. He said it’s a long-standing pay policy that has been implemented in other emergencies, including the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires and the 2013 southern Alberta floods. Hinshaw’s contract, which is posted online, does not specify the number of hours in her work week, nor does it include overtime provisions. Hinshaw’s Alberta government overtime pay covers time she worked more than 45 hours a week. It was calculated using a formula devised by the Civil Service Commission, Feldbusch said. He declined to say how many overtime hours he worked. CBC News compared Hinshaw’s compensation for the most recent years available with that of her counterparts in four other provinces, as well as that of Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer. Dr. Bonnie Henry, of BC, received $342,292 for the 2020-21 fiscal year. Henry did not receive any bonus pay during that time for handling the pandemic, a BC government spokesman said. Dr. Robert Strang, of Nova Scotia, received $305,645 in 2020-2021. It received no additional pay for handling the pandemic in 2020-21 or 2021-22, a Nova Scotia government spokesman said. Dr. Saqib Shahab, of Saskatchewan, received $411,416 in 2020-21 — about $78,000 more than he received the previous year. The Saskatchewan government cannot say whether Sahab received a bonus because the law prevents it from disclosing more details about public employee compensation, a Saskatchewan government spokesman said. Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, who started his position on June 26, 2021, received $235,314 in the 2021 calendar year. The Ontario government could not disclose whether Moore received any bonuses, a spokesman said.
Hinshaw’s extra pay is opaquely justified: bioethical
Dr. James Talbot, a medical microbiologist, served as Alberta’s chief medical officer of health from 2012 to 2015. Talbot did not discuss additional pay for potential excessive overtime with Alberta government human resources staff while he was in the role, he said. The pandemic is an unprecedented situation that required public health officials to work many overtime hours to properly respond to the emergency, so it’s only fair that Hinshaw be compensated for additional work, Talbot said. Hinshaw’s total compensation last year — about $591,545 — is not out of line with what many medical specialists earn, he said. But her workload was likely comparable to that of her peers during that time, making her an outlier. The Alberta government’s justification for the additional fee is opaque, said Arthur Shaffer, a bioethicist and founding director of the University of Manitoba’s Center for Professional and Applied Ethics. Hinshaw was one of the highest paid in the country before the COVID-19 pandemic and the provincial government has not explained why her pay is a national variance, he explained. “They’re blowing smoke in the public’s face,” Shaffer said. “Top level officials like Dr. Hinshaw are not paid to work 40 hours a week. They are not paid based on the number of hours they work. They are paid very high salaries.” Moving forward, Talbot expects doctors — and doctors applying for those positions — to seek additional hazard pay or safety assurances from their respective provincial governments, given the public outrage and threats Hinshaw has faced. and its counterparts. “The stress this position was receiving across the country was also unprecedented,” he said. “I was only peripherally involved and received threats on my life.” As of late May 2021, the Alberta government has paid Price Langevin and Associate, a private security firm, more than $262,000 to protect Hinshaw, according to the province’s proprietary contract disclosure database.
