$1,400 car service expensed by AHS official administrator for single-day trip

Less than two weeks after he was appointed official administrator of Alberta Health Services, during a high-profile shakeup of the health authority by the Danielle Smith government, Dr. John Cowell expensed a $1,400 car service for a trip from Calgary to Edmonton and back.

Publicly available AHS expense documents reveal Cowell racked up a $1,462.50 bill for Nobnish Transport, a Calgary- based limousine and sedan service on Nov. 29, the day of the Throne Speech.

Cowell was appointed official administrator of Alberta Health Services on Nov. 17 as Smith made good on her campaign promise to disband the 11-person AHS board.

The document shows an extended, four-passenger sedan was booked for 13 hours, between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., making a round trip from Cowell's home in Calgary to Edmonton the day of the Throne speech. He also had a meeting with Health Minister Jason Copping.

It's the first expense Cowell has claimed during his latest stint as AHS official administrator. He was previously appointed to the same position in 2013.

The invoice, dated Dec. 1, shows a charge of $1,170 for the car and driver, a 20-per-cent gratuity amounting to $234, plus GST, billed at $58.50. The GST was exempted and the reimbursement totalled $1,404.

It shows Cowell made a stop at at AHS' corporate offices and the legislature — where, in both cases, the car and driver waited for him — before returning to Calgary the same day.

"The optics of that are quite poor," said Lorian Hardcastle, who teaches health law and policy at the University of Calgary.

She said the expense claim by Cowell appears "excessive."

"Whenever we look at the healthcare system there are questions around spending and value for money and areas where we should tighten the purse strings and areas where we should increase spending," she said.

"So there's a disconnect between that kind of discourse [and] someone who's being paid quite handsomely, and then also submitting quite generous expense claims."

Cowell was brought in to reform AHS and fix a health-care system the government characterized as "unable to meet growing demand," at a time when ER wait times ballooned and many doctors and nurses said their hospitals were in crisis.

He was tasked with four priorities: reducing ER wait times, improving EMS response times, reducing surgical wait times, and improving patient flow through the health system. Cowell provided a 90-day update on Monday, during which he outlined a number of health system improvements.

Mount Royal University political watcher Lori Williams said this spending revelation is unlikely to sit will with Albertans, many of whom are struggling financially.