Tyler Shandro's code of conduct hearing heads into second day

Two doctors testified at a Law Society of Alberta (LSA) hearing that they were "intimidated" by Tyler Shandro and felt that the then-health minister acted inappropriately in two separate incidents in early 2020.

Day two of a three-day hearing into a trio of allegations against Shandro is underway. The LSA panel will decide whether the minister's actions nearly three years ago go against the code of conduct of the profession's regulator.

Dr. Mukarram Zaidi said his children were playing basketball in the driveway before coming inside to tell their father someone was at the family home to see him in March 2020. After putting on a jacket, the doctor came out of his home and saw Tyler Shandro and his wife at the end of his driveway, Zaidi said.

"He was crying, emotionally charged, his wife was holding him and he said, 'you can't do this to us, we're getting death threats'," Zaidi testified Tuesday, adding the confrontation had to do with a recent social media post he had written.

"I said 'what happened?' They said 'your post, you need to delete your post now.'"

Zaidi had reposted a meme on social media that featured a picture of Shandro with a speech bubble that included the text: "So every Albertan that I can kick off Health Care is another client we can sign up for Vital Partners! We're going to be RICH!"

The doctor said he posted the meme to call into question a potential conflict of interest involving Shandro and his connection to Vital Partners Inc. The company provides a number of services including private health insurance and it is part-owned by Shandro and his wife.

Alberta's ethics commissioner ruled Shandro was not in a conflict of interest in 2020.

Zaidi said he deleted the post shortly after Shandro and his wife showed up on his driveway.

'HOW DID HE TRACK ME DOWN?'

Dr. Lauralee Dukeshire testified Shandro called and left a voicemail on her private cell phone in February 2020, shortly after she tried to confront him at a Red Deer hospital.

The doctor said she was trying to ask Shandro and former premier Jason Kenney questions about a recent decision by the Alberta government to end its master agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).

The politicians were at the hospital for a media announcement where Dukeshire worked at the time. The doctor testified she wasn't able to ask them questions one-on-one and instead caught up to Shandro as they started to leave and shouted at him to ask why the minister wasn't listening to doctors.

Dukeshire said she saw Shandro in an elevator and called him "a liar and a cheat" before the doors closed.

A day later, she had a voicemail from Shandro on her cell phone.

"How does he know who I am and how did he track me down?" the doctor said she remembered thinking after receiving the voicemail.

She had never identified herself to Shandro and never requested he call her, she said.

When the doctor called Shandro back days later, she told him she wanted the government to return to the table with the AMA. Shandro became defensive on the call, Dukeshire testified, and made accusations against the AMA.

"He said his staff had been sexually harassed by people at the Alberta Medical Association," Dukeshire said of the conversation with Shandro.

The minister then texted her the phone number of the deputy minister of health days later, but the doctor said she never called the number.

RELEASING PHONE NUMBERS WAS A BREACH OF PRIVACY: AHS REPORT

An Alberta Health Services (AHS) report, which was confidential until being entered into evidence on Tuesday, looked into the issue of the doctors' phone numbers being sent to Shandro.

The report was prepared for Dr. Verna Yiu, who was the CEO of AHS at the time.

It concluded that the sharing of the personal phone numbers of two doctors with Shandro "constitutes a breach of the Alberta Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act."

Victoria Lane, the chief privacy officer of AHS, testified on Tuesday that she had launched the investigation about the sharing of phone numbers after learning about the phone calls in the media.

Lane said the report concluded that the doctors' phone numbers were shared with Shandro after he texted an AHS staff member the physical descriptions of two doctors who confronted him at the Red Deer hospital event in an effort to identify them.

"There are lessons to be learned," the AHS report read.

Lane added that the AHS staff member who shared the phone numbers with Shandro admitted to doing so and apologized.

Lawyers representing the LSA allege Shandro engaged in "conduct that brings the reputation of the profession into disrepute." The minister's lawyer argues that the incidents in question happened in a personal capacity and Shandro shouldn't be judged by the LSA.

"He was not practicing law, he was not acting as a politician. He was acting in his personal capacity," said Grant Stapon in his opening.

Under section 49 of the Legal Profession Act, sanctions may be considered by the LSA for any members "whether or not that conduct relates to the member’s practice as a barrister and solicitor and whether or not that conduct occurs in Alberta."

Those sanctions could include a warning, fine or a suspension.

Shandro is expected to testify during the hearing this week, as is his wife.