N.S. Health administrator working out of province not an issue for Houston government

It doesn't seem to be a problem for the Houston government that the administrator of Nova Scotia Health is working from Ontario.

Although there has been considerable blowback since it was revealed Janet Davidson – essentially a one-person board – is overseeing the work of Nova Scotia Health from three provinces away.

In cabinet on Thursday, Premier Tim Houston said Davidson is well-respected and can have discussions with health care-people around the world and bring insight to Nova Scotia.

“Janet is an internationally respected health-care professional. I always say in this province we don’t need to recreate the wheel, we just need to find the best wheel and bring it here and we have been doing that,” says Houston.

“I think it's important that in a province of our size that we are mindful of the expertise from other areas as well and Janet certainly brings that to the table.”

The premier says Davidson is not managing day-to-day operations of the health-care system, but is offering insight and experience.

“I wouldn't try to give the impression that someone from Ontario is meaning the day-to-day operations, that is absolutely not what's happening but what is happening is providing insight and accountability and feedback and opportunities and recognition,” says Houston.

Minister of Health Michelle Thompson says she thinks the current arrangement is fine.

“I do think it's OK. We are really fortunate to have Janet on our health leadership team. She served on the board for a number of years, she has deep historical knowledge about Nova Scotia Health , she was also the interim CEO for a period of time and so now was appointed when we formed government as the administrator,” says Thompson.

“Janet has deep knowledge and is not only familiar with Nova Scotia but a thought leader. We benefit greatly from her stewardship.”

Opposition leader of the NDP Claudia Chender had conflicting views on the topic.

“We need a health leadership team that lives in our province, that is overseeing health care in our province. They signed a contract to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year who then moved to Ontario. This should be unacceptable,” says Chender.

Critics note Davidson is permitted to live in Ontario while public employees have been ordered back to the office full time.

Zach Churchill, leader of the Liberals, says it's just another example of the premier being hypocritical.

“He just told 3,500 public servants in HRM that they have to come back to the office without understanding what the impact is going to be on child-care wait times because that's a big issue for a lot of working families right now. Without having any concern for the impact this going to have on congestion but 1 of the top people in our healthcare system they can work remotely from Ontario at a time when the things that matter in the healthcare system are clearly getting worse,” says Churchill.

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