Premier’s new right hand man to keep hefty severance

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This article was published 01/06/2022 (1226 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Heather Stefanson said she has no problem hiring a former staffer who got a large severance when he left former premier Brian Pallister’s inner circle a few years ago.

Pallister had been fiercely opposed to staff returning to the public payroll after parting ways and collecting severance, but Stefanson has decided to do just that by hiring back longtime Tory adviser Philip Houde.

Houde was Pallister’s chief of staff from 2016 to 2019 and chief executive officer for the Economic Development Office until April 2021. Last June, he received nearly $85,000 in severance, according to public-sector disclosure.

As a senior officer with the government during the 2020-21 fiscal year, Houde earned $174,305.

Houde will replace Jordan Sisson as the Stefanson’s chief of staff next week.

NDP finance critic Mark Wasyliw said the Tories are failing to practise what they preach, and called on the party to ensure Houde’s severance is paid back to the government.

In 2017, Pallister railed against the NDP after the party hired Liam Martin as chief of staff for its leader, Wab Kinew. Martin was former premier Greg Selinger’s chief of staff for more than two years and received just over $146,000 in severance when he left in 2014.

The NDP used taxpayer money as a slush fund for its staff, Pallister said. He demanded the party pay back the severance given to Martin, who earned $92,920 annually.

“This is the type of thing that troubles taxpayers. This is not a practice we should be respecting,” Pallister said in 2017. “It does us all discredit… This is a very great way for people to make double salaries — it’s not fair, it’s not right.”

Wasyliw said the Tories should stick to their principles and, to be ethically consistent, severance given to Houde should be paid back to the government.

“They’ve made a lot of hay around here saying that somehow the previous government had done something wrong, so if that’s their case they need to sort of live up to that,” Wasyliw said.

Stefanson, who said she has known Houde for decades, said he has a wealth of knowledge and experience.

Asked if the severance should be paid back, Stefanson said Houde fulfilled his contract and severance was paid under the terms of his employment agreement.

“That’s fair,” Stefanson said.

The flare-up of a six-year-old dispute over severance epitomizes the dynamic between the NDP and Tories, Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said.

“You have two parties who spend most of their time angry at each other for doing the same thing and never fixing it or taking responsibility for it,” Lamont said.

Both parties have tolerated a “revolving door” of staff who leave, collect severance and return to government, he argued.

“They get a golden handshake and a golden parachute, and a soft landing, and then they get all of it again,” Lamont said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca