Vaughn Palmer: Judge roasts Christy Clark government for last-minute hit job in 2017

Judge says the Christy Clark government wrongly blamed Wendy-Lou Taylor for the 2012 firings of a half dozen health ministry employees and researchers, one of whom later killed himself. Photo by Shaughn Butts /10107822A

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VICTORIA — The B.C. Liberal government got a well-deserved roasting in provincial Supreme Court this week for wrongly scapegoating and firing a senior public servant in the dying days of Christy Clark’s term in office.

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B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lindsay LeBlanc awarded 30-year public service veteran Wendy-Lou Taylor $250,000 in punitive and aggravated damages, with court costs still to be determined.

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The judge found the Clark government had wrongly blamed Taylor for the 2012 firings of a half dozen health ministry employees and researchers, one of whom later killed himself.

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Although Taylor investigated allegations against the group in her capacity as director of privacy investigations, the court found that she did not recommend any terminations.

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“Her recommendation was for employee suspensions pending completion of the formal investigation, as the investigative work was still underway when the termination decision was made.”

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The court found that the decision to terminate was made by then-deputy minister of health Graham Whitmarsh.

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Subsequent investigations and reviews determined the firings were unjustified. The employees were restored and/or compensated, and the government apologized to the family of the researcher who killed himself.

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Yet the Liberals allowed the impression to continue that Taylor was largely responsible as the supposed leader of the team that implemented the firings.

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The heath firings scandal dogged Clark throughout the 2017 election campaign and likely contributed to the loss of her legislative majority.

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The Liberals then fired Taylor on June 29, 2017, the same day as Clark lost a confidence vote in the legislature and Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon called on John Horgan to form a government.

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The then-head of the public service under the Liberals, Kim Henderson, told the court that the confidence vote determined the timing of the firing.

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“She (Henderson) was concerned that she would not have a job if there was a change of government following the non-confidence vote. As such, it had to be done on the day of the non-confidence vote.”

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Henderson said she was responding to a recent report from Ombudsperson Jay Chalke. Titled “Misfire”, it found the firings were unjustified and exposed a pattern of error and duplicity in the handling of the case.

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“Ms. Henderson explained that she wanted to ensure the plaintiff’s termination was handled by her as she had taken responsibility for responding to the Misfire report.”

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However, the judge continued, “I do not accept Ms. Henderson’s explanation. First, termination of (Taylor) was not a recommendation in the Misfire report, and in fact it commented that no further firings should occur.