EDMONTON — An Alberta politician who made sweeping allegations of corruption in the province’s health system says he’s not willing to back up the statements with proof.
Independent Raj Sherman told reporters and members in the legislature that the fault lies not with him, but with Premier Ed Stelmach’s government.
“If the government continues to refuse to provide complete immunity (from punishment or retribution), then I am not at liberty to provide this information,” Sherman said Wednesday.
“My inquiries came after I received reliable information from a credible medical source.”
Health Minister Gene Zwozdesky said the protection that Sherman seeks exists. The minister said all health employees sign agreements that guarantee them the right to protection from retribution for any disclosures.
Sherman, an emergency room doctor and former junior health minister for the governing Tories, ignited the controversy on Monday.
He stood in the house and accused Edmonton health officials of covering up the deaths of 250 patients who had been on a waiting list for lung cancer surgery.
He said doctors who wanted to speak out about it were either punished or paid off with millions of taxpayer dollars to keep quiet.
He also said health officials then committed fraud by keeping two sets of financial books to cover up the hush money.
While still speaking in the house, Sherman named Dr. Trevor Theman, registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, as being part of the cover up.
He also accused Sheila Weatherill of being involved. She was in charge of the Edmonton health region when the alleged events occurred before 2006. Weatherill now sits on the board of Alberta Health Services, which runs day-to-day health operations in the province.
Theman has denied the accusations and Weatherill has not publicly commented. Zwozdesky said he, too, is still looking to speak with her.
When asked by reporters if he would apologize to Weatherill and Theman, Sherman declined to answer.
When asked why he made the statements on Monday knowing at the time he may not be able to back them up, he declined to answer.
When asked if he would make the same comments again, he said he would.
“When you become aware of an issue specific to the safety of Albertans it’s your duty to raise the question,” he said.
Zwozdesky said he has looked into the claims and found nothing to substantiate them.
Sherman’s original accusations were made in the legislature chamber, where politicians have immunity from defamation laws. He has refused to repeat the allegations outside the chamber. If he did, he could be sued.
Sherman did not show up in the legislature on Tuesday but gave media interviews during which he changed his story on the bribes and raised issues that only served to cloud the issue further.
He told one media outlet the bribes were not paid in cash, as first suggested, but in the form of pork-barrel jobs. He indicated to another interviewer the bribes were part of signed confidentiality agreements.
Earlier Wednesday, Stelmach said politicians are used to taking slings and arrows, but Sherman has gone too far.
“It is not fair to raise allegations about people who are outside of the assembly, to have their integrity questioned without providing some kind of proof,” he said.
Political scientist Keith Brownsey said Sherman’s actions suggest dangerous political demagoguery.
“It is a type of McCarthyism ... if we take the term McCarthyism to mean unsubstantiated allegations which could damage an individual or an institution,” said Brownsey of Calgary’s Mount Royal University.
McCarthyism refers to the actions of U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. Using the power and platform of political office, he made sweeping allegations of communist infiltrators in the federal government and accused many people with no proof. Reputations were ruined and people were blacklisted.
When pressed for evidence, McCarthy often changed his story before ultimately being censured by the senate.
It’s been a roller-coaster few months for Sherman.
He had been the junior health minister for less than three years before he was turfed from caucus last November for criticizing his own government over long waits in emergency rooms. He remained in the legislature as an Independent and became a self-styled noble turncoat famous for shooting from the hip and taking no prisoners. He was nicknamed “The Shermanator.”
There were many targets: he called the head of Alberta Health Services an “amateur” and decried the “knucklehead” decisions that destroyed staff morale.
He called his one-time boss, former health minister Ron Liepert, a rude bully-boy who demoralized frontline health staff. He also dismissed Stelmach as a health-care promise-breaker.
There was more controversy. He accused colleagues of a whisper campaign to ruin his reputation by suggesting he was mentally unstable.
Sherman later publicly accused Stelmach of trying to get him decertified as a doctor, but offered no proof. Stelmach denied the accusation.
Sherman has since been wooed to join opposition parties and has said he’s considering running to head the Tories, the Alberta Liberals or the Alberta Party. All three parties are either preparing for or engaged in a leadership campaign.