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More than three years after a heated confrontation in a doctor’s Calgary driveway made headlines, a Law Society of Alberta tribunal will soon decide if former cabinet minister Tyler Shandro broke the lawyer’s code of conduct or not.
The panel that will weigh whether the former UCP justice minister brought the legal profession into disrepute in his interactions with four members of the public during his time as the province’s health minister heard closing arguments Tuesday.
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Shandro is accused of breaching the Legal Profession Act on three occasions in February and March 2020, not long after the government ripped up its master agreement with the Alberta Medical Association. The hearing, which has taken place virtually, began in January.
Shandro lost his Calgary-Acadia seat by only 25 votes in last May’s provincial election.
On Tuesday, Shandro’s lawyer argued the series of professional conduct complaints were politically motivated, while Ken McEwan, the Vancouver lawyer arguing the case for the law society, said the incidents were inappropriate efforts to silence political criticism.
McEwan argued Shandro’s behaviour represented a pattern of intimidation.
“It is that pattern, that attempt to quell obviously legitimate public debate through the various communications, each of which was improper in its own way, that is incompatible with the best interests of the public, or members of the law society,” said McEwan.
Shandro’s lawyer Grant Stapon reiterated his argument that the complaints have nothing to do with Shandro’s law practice or professional integrity.
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“A single emotional outburst shouldn’t be the subject matter of professional discipline,” he told the tribunal, citing a previous ruling.
The series of professional conduct complaints include the allegation that Shandro “behaved inappropriately” when he went to the home of Calgary physician Dr. Mukarram Zaidi and confronted him in his driveway over a social media post.
A second complaint came after two doctors, then located in Red Deer, said Shandro used his position as health minister to get their personal cellphone numbers to contact them outside regular working hours.
Also under scrutiny is when Shandro contacted a Calgary woman via his ministerial email after she sent a complaint to his wife’s company, Vital Partners, over what she believed to be a conflict of interest. Alberta’s ethics commissioner has previously said the issue did not require an investigation because Shandro’s ownership shares are in a blind trust.
The hearing committee’s decision could be published within the next three to four months.
Stapon said it was telling none of those involved filed the complaints that led to the tribunal. He urged the panel to remember that Shandro’s family was being targeted with threats at the time, when political tensions over the doctor’s agreement and the recently-declared COVID-19 pandemic were high.
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“These are all efforts to make an attack on Shandro’s political activities,” he told the panel.
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While McEwan noted that Shandro pushed Zaidi to ultimately delete the social media post that had sparked concern, Stapon aimed to poke holes in Zaidi’s version of events, and pointed to other related social media posts.
“This is a private discussion in connection with what my client believed to be a threat to his wife,” said Stapon, arguing Shandro’s willingness to engage with the the two Red Deer doctors who had been “demanding to speak” with Shandro showed a willingness to engage with, rather than stifle, critics.
Still, McEwan said both Red Deer doctors said they found their interactions with Shandro to be intimidating.
“The minister of health calling you off-hours on your private cellphone conveyed the message, ‘I know where to find you, I know how to get to you,’” said McEwan.
Stapon admitted that Shandro’s use of ministerial email to respond to someone who contacted his wife’s company was “probably misjudgment,” but was a private interaction that had nothing to do with the practice of the law.
— With files from Jonny Wakefield
lijohnson@postmedia.com
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