Alberta health minister used confidential information to call protesting doctors

When Dr. JohnJulyan-Gudgeon went to a hospital event to protest health-care cuts,he didn't expect it to lead to an after-hours phone call onhis personal cellphone from the health minister.

But that's exactly what happened.

The doctorattended a provincial fundingannouncement at the Red Deer Regional Hospital on Feb. 26. While there, he says, he attempted to approach Minister Tyler Shandrotoexplainhis issues with the province's proposed health-care revamp.

Shandro's office saysthe doctor was persistent Julyan-Gudgeon agreed the interaction was a bit tense and security advised the minister to move along. Shandrolater asked a public relations staff member at Alberta Health Services (AHS) for the man's phone number.

At around 9 p.m. the followingnight,Julyan-Gudgeon's cellphone rang unexpectedly. He recognized the voicebut asked anyway.

"Who is this?"

"It's Tyler Shandro."

The conversation was "neutral,"Julyan-Gudgeon says. The minister listened to his concerns about the cuts andgave the doctorhis contact information if he had suggestionsin the future.

He asked how the minister got his personal number (contact information he guards carefully) and Shandro said he got it from AHS.

Julyan-Gudgeon says he was never contactedto ask his consent to disclose theunlistedcell number.

"I was shocked and concerned and a bit intimidated," he said.

He filed a formal complaint with the privacy commissioner this week.

He wasn't the only one to get a call that night.

'The health minister tracked me down'

Another doctor checked her cellphone to find a voicemail from the health minister saying he'd got her personal number from AHS. She'd attended the same eventbut hadn't spoken to Shandro or agreed to provide him with anycontact information. She returned his call later.

"It felt intimidating," she said."The health minister tracked me down."

CBC News has agreed to withhold her identity because of concerns for her privacyand career.

The minister's office has confirmedboth these interactions.

Colleen Turner, apublic affairs official at AHS, says she tracked downthe doctors' phone numbers for the minister after he asked for them. She "assumed their consent was implied" and was trying to be helpful.

"In retrospect, I should have obtained consent prior to sharing physician contact information."

AHS has informed the Alberta Medical Association of the incident and said it wouldn't happen again.

Shandro's office says the ministerwas unaware the numbers were improperly procured and just wanted to talk to the doctors.

"The Minister wouldn't have wanted a number that was private or unlisted," they said in an email.

Doctors vs.the minister

Both doctors say they are troubled bythe precedent this sets for interactions between physicians and the minister.

"It is a concern that people in positions of authority can reach down through the organizations that they're supposed to be leading in moral and ethical ways in order to gain information to promote their own personal intentions,"Julyan-Gudgeonsaid.

"This ability to communicate, this relationship between the ministry and doctors is just turning sour."

Julyan-Gudgeon says he was so shaken by the unsolicitedcall that he wasn't able to effectively communicate his worries about the health-care changes.

In an additionalstatement provided after the publication of this story, Shandro's office indicated during that phone call"at no point did Dr. Julyan-Gudgeon indicate that he in any way objected to being contacted."

In the subsequent weeks, messagesfromJulyan-Gudgeon havebecome "harassing,"the minister's office says.

Security has advised the minister to stop communication with the doctor who contends that while his public tweets have been adversarial, his private text messages to the minister have been constructive, somethingShandro's office later confirmed.

The physicians are questioning these potential breaches of privacy law and the level of ministerial access to private citizens' information, but it isn't the only controversy Shandro has faced in his interactions with doctors.

The United Conservative government's plans for health care have been widely criticized by doctors and nurses.Many of these changes have been suspended because of COVID-19.

Julyan-Gudgeon was part of a group that sent an open letter to the government asking them to pause those changes.

As the provincial face ofthis file, the health minister has been embroiled in the backlash.

In March, Shandroand his wife were alsoaccused of berating a Calgary doctor at his house in front of his wife and children for reposting a derogatory meme on Facebook.

CBC Newsalso obtained email exchanges between Shandro and private citizens, whichincluded athreatto send the legislature's security services after one person.

The NDPcalled for Shandro's resignation over the incidents, a request that Premier Jason Kenneybrushed aside.

Kenney responds to calls for Shandro resignation

4 years ago

Duration 1:05

Opposition leader Rachel Notley is calling for Jason Kenney to fire Alberta's health minister after Tyler Shandro allegedly berated a Calgary doctor at this home but Kenney is standing by Shandro.

Cellphone numbers: essential to the job or sacrosanct information?

One privacy expert has concerns about the message it sends to have politicians randomly calling citizens who disagree with them.

"That's tantamount to obtaining apersonal home addressand knocking on the door and saying 'Hi, I'm your boss the minister, I'd like to have a chat with you,'" said Sharon Polsky, president of thePrivacy and Access Council of Canada.

"Home information is sacrosanct."

Polsky says if information is used for another purpose than what it was collected for without permission, it's usually a "violation of the law."

Under the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act, personal information can only be disclosed to a third party if the individual has consented orunder very limited circumstances without consent.

For example, apublic bodycan be granted accessbut only if the informationis essential to performingtheir jobs. Information can also be released to a Member of the Legislative Assembly, but only if a citizen has explicitlyrequested their help solving a particular problem.

You have to meet a high bar to be legally given access to personal email addresses or phone numbers.

If a physician feels that their personal information has been improperly collected, used or disclosed, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta saysthey can file a complaint.Julyan-Gudgeon has, the second doctor does not plan to.

Polskysays she can't think of anything in Alberta's privacy laws that wouldjustify Shandro's access and use of private cellphone numbers, especially outside regularbusiness hours.

Itmight have been totally innocent, but once again the perception, the appearance of impropriety is there.- Sharon Polsky,Privacy and Access Council of Canada

"Itmight have been totally innocent, but once again the perception, the appearance of improprietyis there," she said.

The privacy commissioner investigated a similar casein 2013. The minister of education had usedinformation from theAlberta's Teacher Registry System to send a mass email to 34,000 teachers. Dozens of complaints were filed about the unauthorized disclosure ofpersonal email addresses.

The investigation found the education minister contravened the Privacy Act and concluded it was inappropriate for himto have used the school databases to contact teachers on theirpersonal emails.

Lack of education and training on privacy laws isalso a big issue, Polsky says. She adds thateven if staff are aware of the rules,having someone in a superior rank request confidential information can create a power imbalance.

"[Staff] can't afford to just to speak out and say something that might be construed as challenging the sovereignty of a minister."

She says either Shandro orsomeone in his office should have known to ask about the sourceof the information.

The privacy issues are a principal concern, but the two doctorsare also distressed about these escalating spats in the middle of a pandemic.

Julyan-Gudgeon has offered to withdraw his complaint to the privacy commissioner and speak with Shandro, if the ministry shows they are willing to rebuild trust and make progress with the doctors.

"I'm starting to wonder whether or not we can have an effective relationship between the doctors andthis ministry. All of this just seems to be turning into a war and we shouldn't be at war,"Julyan-Gudgeon lamented.