MONTREAL – The head of a non-profit agency overseeing Canada’ shift to electronic medical records has racked up more than a $1 million taxpayer-funded retirement pension - after a mere six years on the job, a QMI investigation shows.
Richard C. Alvarez has been chief executive of Canada Health Infoway Inc. (Inforoute Santé du Canada) since only 2004.
Yet he’s already snared a fully funded, golden retirement that would be the envy of ordinary public servants, never mind ordinary taxpayers struggling to get timely health care.
Details of Alvarez’s gold-plated pension are buried in six years worth of Infoway financial reports reviewed by QMI Agency.
News of his deluxe package comes amid rumours that the Harper government may curtail pension plans of ordinary federal public servants so they’ll pay more of the rising cost of their retirements.
Options include boosting individual workers’ contributions and or restricting early retirements.
Infoway was created by the Liberal government in 2001. It now has about 200 employees in Montreal and Toronto.
The non-profit has so far received $1.6 billion to spend on electronic health records projects across Canada, working with the provinces, territories and technology companies.
It was to get another $500 million this year, but the minority Conservative government put that on ice in its recent budget.
Infoway works with the provinces and territories to develop and finance electronic health records projects that aim to create a safer, more cost-effective health-care system.
Alvarez’ pension plan was created specially for him when he joined the non-profit organization in 2004. He is a former Alberta and federal public servant. There was no mention of such a plan existing for his Infoway predecessor, Linda Lizotte-Macpherson.
"It’s unreal!’’ said Catherine Swift, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business when told of the pension.
"We have a problem with the proliferation of these quasi-government, but independent, arm’s-length corporations created so they can avoid the already loosey -goosy rules of government,’’ Swift said.
Infoway spokesman Dan Strasbourg defended Alvarez’ hefty pension, saying the plan was approved by its board of directors, which includes senior provincial health bureaucrats.
That’s the problem, Swift says. "A lot of the people making the decisions benefit from the decisions,’’ she added, noting that pensions for many senior bureaucrats are also out of control and an overly generous package for one, will push others higher.
Strasbourg said the Alvarez package "is comparable to CEOs of major hospitals and government agencies.’’
Strasbourg declined to answer when told major hospitals in Montreal and Toronto, and major government agencies, each have thousands of employees to oversee, not 200 workers like at Canada Health Infoway.
Strasbourg also declined to discuss why Infoway didn’t offer Alvarez much less expensive RRSP contributions for retirement. That’s what Infoway offers its other staffers, its website says.
Strasbourg said Alvarez has moved Canada’s electronic health records efforts "from a small group of pilot projects to a national collaboration involving every province and territory, which has resulted in nearly 300 initiatives across Canada.’’
He cited a report by Auditor General Sheila Fraser – tabled in Parliament in November – saying that Infoway’s compensation policies reflected "prudence and probity’’ and had considered comparable benchmarks. None of them were publicly disclosed.
Strasbourg claimed that the taxman will eventually take a large bite out of Alvarez’ retirement windfall.
"The pension fund will be subject to approximately 50% in taxes upon settlement,’’ Strabourg said, suggesting that all Alvarez will eventually get is a cool $40,000-a-year pension annuity.
Infoway is not covered by federal Access to Information legislation and Strasbourg refused to disclose details of Alvarez compensation package.
eHealth Ontario – a provincial electronic medical records sister to Infoway - disclosed the employment agreement of its former CEO, Sarah Kramer, in response to a Freedom of Information request last year. Details of Kramer’s $517 428 pay package – including a $380,000 base salary – are available on the Internet for all to see.
