The Campbell Liberal government’s appointees to B.C.’s six health authority boards pocketed more than $2.2 million in fees and expenses during the last two years.
According to documents recently filed by the health authorities under the provisions of the Financial Information Act and compiled by HEU, the 60 board members were paid $1,063,418 in fees and expenses for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004.
In the previous fiscal year, board members racked up $1,145,103 in fees and expenses for a two-year total of $2,208,521.
HEU’s acting secretary-business manager Zorica Bosancic says B.C. patients and health care workers are being fleeced.
“The Campbell Liberals’ and their health boards have closed hospitals, slashed services and delivered pink slips or pay cuts to thousands of health care workers all in the name of cutting costs,” says Bosancic.
“But while patients wait longer and worker morale plummets, government’s hand-picked board appointees are being rewarded handsomely for their mismanagement of health care.”
Dominated by the ranks of B.C.’s corporate elite, individual board members charged health authorities as much as $29,500 in fees and $6,700 in expenses for attending board meetings in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004. Part-time board chairs billed for as much as $40,500 in fees and $6,800 in expenses.
The 600 health board members fired by the Campbell government when it reorganized health care in 2001 did not receive remuneration for their service on 52 health boards and councils.
Click hereBoard Fees and Expenses for a backgrounder listing the 2003/2004 fees and expenses claimed by health authority board members.
You can also access the 2002/2003 report released by HEU in February, 2004 by clicking here Directors Fees
Contact: Mike Old, Communications Director 604-828-6771 (cell)