In a scathing judgment handed out by the B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, a judge found that Christy Clark’s government deliberately made the investigator involved in the infamous 2012 Health ministry firings a “scapegoat,” firing her unfairly just hours before the former premier lost power in a vote of non-confidence.
Justice Lindsay LeBlanc finds the decision to fire investigator Wendy Taylor at that moment was made by the Clark government simply “because it suited them politically,” awarding her $250,000 in damages.
“A clear message must be sent to the defendant that public servants are not to be used as pawns for political purposes,” LeBlanc writes in the June 8 judgment. “There was a significant power imbalance between the plaintiff and the defendant.”
LeBlanc also says this was made even more “egregious” because Clark’s government had successfully misled the public to believe Taylor was responsible for decisions related to the 2012 firings, when in fact those decisions were made by Graham Whitmarsh, the deputy minister of health at the time.
“To put it succinctly, the government made the plaintiff its ‘scapegoat,’” LeBlanc writes.
B.C.’s Ministry of Attorney General told Black Press that it is reviewing the decision and cannot comment at this time.
In 2012, the Health Ministry fired seven employees based on a flawed investigation co-led by Taylor. One of those employees, Roderick MacIsaac, later killed himself. Several others filed suit for wrongful termination.
A media firestorm followed, leading to several internal investigations and eventually to the April 2017 Misfire report from Ombudsperson Jay Chalke, which found that rushed decision-making had led to harmful consequences for those involved. The government made oversight changes based on this report.
The report also recommended that payments be made to each fired employee and that no further firings should occur.
Taylor was an investigator in the case, conducting the interviews and developing the case against the employees involved, alleging they were part of a conspiracy to use private health data in research.
But she did not order the firings, which the judge noted in her decision was given as “uncontradicted evidence.” Instead, she had recommended that the employees be suspended pending further investigation. A deputy minister acted anyway.
Emails and documents presented as evidence show that as the investigation began to unravel and get negative press, the deputy ministers involved began to distance themselves.
This situation became particularly unpalatable for government officials after the Misfire report.
At 9:06 a.m. on June 29, 2017, Public Service head Kim Henderson sent Taylor a message summoning her to a 4:15 p.m. meeting at the Public Service office in Victoria. Henderson fired Taylor and offered a severance package in exchange for signing a pledge not to sue. About 15 minutes after that, the payments to the ex-employees recommended by Chalke were made.
About an hour later, Clark’s government fell on a non-confidence vote, and John Horgan took over as premier.
Taylor never signed, and she was paid maximum severance of 18 months’ pay, a bit more than $207,000, anyway. She also sued, arguing the government unfairly pinned the blame on her and took advantage of the fact that she was not allowed to speak to the media as a government employee.
Henderson claimed she fired Taylor just before the government fell to ensure it was handled correctly.
LeBlanc doesn’t buy this argument, finding the more “plausible” explanation was that the government was facing increased political pressure.
As such, the court found that the government acted in “bad faith,” awarding $50,000 in aggravated damages and $200,000 in punitive damages, for conduct LeBlanc called “worthy of rebuke.”
“The manner in which the defendant sought to politically benefit from the plaintiff’s termination is highly reprehensible,” LeBlanc writes. “I find it is worthy of denunciation and punishment separate and apart from the aggravated damages award.”