The campaign by Alberta’s United Conservative Party to remake the province’s health-care system has created chaos with patients dying in overcrowded hospital emergency rooms.
But there has also been a steep financial cost to the overhaul. A Tyee analysis of Alberta Health financial data found at least $30 million has been paid out in severance between 2019 and June 2025.
The data shows the government paid out about $29.45 million between 2019 and June 2025 to 150 former employees. But that figure doesn’t account for payouts made in the second half of 2025, nor does it capture the payouts for executives and others who opted out of the public reporting of their severance.
A third of that amount — nearly $10 million — was paid out in 2023 to 33 people as Smith made good on an election campaign promise to eliminate what she characterized as a bloated bureaucracy and ineffective executive managers.
Smith had made no secret of her animus toward officials at Alberta Health Services, or AHS, whom she accused of underperforming and of mismanaging the COVID pandemic by too stringently applying mandates.
If you work a minumum wage ($15/hr) job for 7 years and put in 40/hrs/week, you’d make $210,000.
Time scales make numbers seem bigger than they are. Go after Danielle Smith for something realstic. This is just shitty outrage journalism.
Doubling down isn’t helping you at all.
No no pleas don’t stop him. This is what I come here for
If you ignore the cost of living, sure. One simple trick to make a million dollars - work 34 years full time at $15/hour without spending any of it. Fact of the matter is, she already spent $30 million on employment payouts as part of dismantling AHS, with more coming, as well as increased costs and wait times outsourcing diagnostics to Dynalife. And don’t worry, if they reach their goal, you’ll see overall medical profits, or rather costs, to rival Americans. But keep on sucking up to her.
Your critical thinking skills seem to be on par with your reading comprehension skills.