Amidst accusations of conflict of interest, a longtime Conservative strategist and donor contracted by the Alberta government to choose members for the new Alberta Health Services Board isn’t saying how much he was paid for the job — and neither is the government.

“In my opinion, that’s confidential between me and my client,” says Brent Shervey, a managing director at Boyden Global Executive Search, the company hired to headhunt board members. Shervey managed Health Minister Ron Liepert’s campaign in the 2004 election.

Alberta Health spokesperson Howard May says the dollar value of the contract isn’t available. “The billing isn’t complete,” says May, adding he has “no idea” when the department will release the number.

In the legislature November 24, Liberal health critic Hugh MacDonald asked Liepert why the hiring contract went to his friend. “How can the citizens of this province, who cherish and support their public health care system, have any confidence in the new board when the selection process is controlled by Progressive Conservative party glitterati?” asked MacDonald.

Liepert replied: “I can only suggest that we had a provincial election this spring and the folks of the province spoke, and we’re carrying out their wishes.” Liepert also said “there was an open [request for proposals] competition, and it was won by Boyden.”

Shervey says he met all the requirements for submitting his proposal. “I think it’s unfair to allege that because I happen to have a relationship with the minister, that therefore I shouldn’t be able to do any work for that department,” he says. “[It’s] kind of silly in a way, I think, to say that if I’m a taxi driver and support a candidate, then I can never have that candidate in my cab.”

Shervey has a long history with the Conservative party. He worked as executive assistant to Peter Lougheed when he was premier, and more recently managed Conservative leadership candidate Jim Dinning’s campaign. Party contribution statements show that last year, Shervey donated $1,700 to the Conservatives.

Opposition parties and health care advocates say while the 15-member board is heavy on business interests, it’s light on health-care knowledge and expertise. “They obviously had a set of parameters that they were instructed to follow in regards to hiring people,” says Friends of Medicare executive director and former NDP MLA David Eggen.

Eggen applied to the health services board, but didn’t get the job — a fact Liepert revealed in the legislature November 20. Friends of Medicare responded by saying it was “inappropriate” for a government MLA to reveal the identity of an applicant to a government job. “We don’t want it to be this atmosphere where you feel as though you’re taking a risk by applying to these things,” says Eggen, who lost his Edmonton seat in the March election.

The Liberals also say it’s a conflict of interest to have Tony Franceschini, CEO of Edmonton architectural firm Stantec Inc., on the board. At one point Liberal leader Kevin Taft held Stantec shares in his RRSP, and the province’s ethics commissioner wrote him a March 2007 letter saying that because the company “has considerable interests in Alberta and significant involvement in public works funded by Alberta Infrastructure,” he had to sell the shares. “I sold them the next day,” says Taft.

Franceschini’s appointment, Taft says, is an “obvious conflict of interest” since the health board will deal with about $1.4 billion in capital projects each year and Stantec designs health-care facilities. Taft has asked the ethics commissioner to investigate.