By Chris Brown

Tyler Shandro, Jason Copping swap roles

Tyler Shandro out as Alberta health minister

Sep 21, 2021 | 3:47 PM

The person who held the most contentious portfolio throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will not steer Alberta’s health ministry as the province battles a fourth wave.

Premier Jason Kenney has taken Tyler Shandro off the health portfolio, swapping roles with Jason Copping.

Copping takes over as health minister, and Shandro moves to Copping’s former labour and immigration portfolio.

The new health minister takes over on a day when Alberta has more than 20,000 active cases of COVID-19.

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There are now 954 Albertans in hospital with COVID-19, 216 of which are in ICU. The number of hospitalizations is a record-high for the province.

Also on Tuesday, the province asked the federal government for help transferring ICU patients out of Alberta and for additional critical care staff, specifically ICU nurses and respiratory therapists.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) issued a statement following the cabinet shuffle.

“Good riddance,” says AUPE vice-president and licensed practical nurse Susan Slade. “Tyler Shandro set fire to Alberta’s health-care system and hung Albertans out to dry throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s past time for him to suffer some consequences for his actions.”

Much of Shandro’s time as health minister was spent in a labour dispute with health professionals, including what the AUPE calls his “intention to fire 11,000 front-line health care workers, a scheme that is currently ongoing in the form of hospital laundry and retail food services privatization.”

Shandro was also embroiled in a fight with physicians over pay and working conditions.

The premier will join chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw for a COVID-19 update at 5 p.m. CHAT News will have it live on our website and social media channels.