Vital Partners controversy

On March 19, 2020, concerns were raised on social media^[15] that there was a potential conflict of interest on the part of Shandro, who has shares in Vital Partners, along with his wife's sister, and his wife, Andrea Shandro.^[16] In response to complaints sent to the ethics commissioner's office about Shandro's alleged conflict of interest, the ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler, wrote in a March 20, 2020, letter that, since Shandro was not the director of Shandro Holdings, the company that owns Vital Partners, and since his shares in that company are in a blind trust, he has done "all that is required to be in compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act".^[17]

After news of this controversy broke, the Shandro family were subjected to multiple personal attacks through social media.^[18]

Confrontation controversies

On March 22, Shandro and his wife went to the residence of their neighbour Dr. Mukarram Zaidi. Zaidi, who had previously served on the constituency association of MLA Mike Ellis alongside Shandro,^[18] claimed that Shandro berated him for sharing a Facebook post about Shandro's potential conflict of interest regarding Vital Partners.^[19] Shandro allegedly requested that Zaidi remove the post, which he did. Though Zaidi forgave Shandro,^[18] Zaidi still feared for both his own and his family's safety, and that he had yet to receive an apology from Shandro.^[20]

Shandro stated that he regretted his actions, though added that he had merely "responded passionately" in an attempt to stand up for his wife. Following the incident, Opposition MLAs called on Premier Kenney to fire Shandro.^[19]

Shandro responded to the media controversy in a March 27 statement, saying that the social media posts regarding Vital Partners had led to his family being "subjected to an online campaign of defamation".^[21] In his March 27 statement he said he regretted his actions, as they were a distraction from the COVID-19 pandemic.^[22] Shandro was supported by Premier Kenney, who said that Shandro's behaviour was understandable given that the minister felt his family was under attack.^[22]

A March 27 CBC article described another incident in which Shandro allegedly threatened a constituent who had confronted him about the conflict of interest, saying he would contact provincial security services.^[23]

On April 3, the CBC published an article detailing how Shandro had allegedly obtained the personal phone numbers of two physicians from Alberta Health Services illegally. He phoned the two individuals on their private phones, which raised concerns about privacy violations.^[24]

By the end of March, there was considerable media coverage of Shandro's response to these concerns including articles in the Medicine Hat News,^[25][26] the Edmonton Journal,^[16][22] and CBC News,^[23] A CBC article described how Vital Partners could potentially profit from changes to provincial physician reimbursement that led to physicians having to fire staff and shutter practices. The media coverage of the confrontation resulted in the political opposition and citizens calling for Shandro's resignation.^[22]

Shandro struggled to recover from these allegations, with an April poll showing 34 per cent of Albertans expressing their approval for his handling of COVID-19—the lowest approval rating in Canada.^[27] In a July 2020 survey of Alberta doctors, 98% of respondents said that they had lost confidence in Shandro.^[28]

AMA agreement

Bill 21 gave Shandro the right to unilaterally end the long-standing master agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).^[29] He terminated the agreement on March 30 and introduced a new fee structure which Shandro stressed would provide $5.4 billion in annual funding among other supports.^[30] On April 9, the AMA filed a lawsuit against the province, citing the termination of the agreement as well as the "government's conduct during negotiations".^[31] On March 30, 2021, Alberta doctors voted 53 percent to turn down a negotiated offer to settle their long standing dispute with the government.^[32]

End of tenure

On September 21, 2021, Premier Jason Kenney shuffled him out of the cabinet position as health minister. NDP leader Rachel Notley stated that the news of his departure was "welcome" however "Alberta is facing a crisis in our hospitals but the UCP can't see beyond the chaotic spectacle of their own infighting."^[33]