Linda West

Linda West is a Canadian administrator, activist and politician. She is perhaps best known as an advocate for increased private health provision within Canada's public health system. She has been a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada and the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.

Private life and career

West has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Laurentian University and a Master of Business Administration specializing in Health Care from the University of Toronto.^[1] She also holds a Ph.D. from Washington International University, an institution that is licensed but not accredited by any educational oversight body in Canada or the United States of America. West's Ph.D. credentials became a source of controversy during the 2006 federal election.^[2]

West was executive director of the James Bay General Hospital from 1992 to 1995, and of the Winnipeg River Health District from 1995 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000, she was executive director of labour relations for Manitoba Health.^[3] She has also been a health policy consultant for the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba, and has taught nursing and business at the University of Manitoba.^[4] West is the author of a book entitled, Trends and Issues in Health Care.^[5]

In 2003, West helped organize a conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba on the role of women in politics.^[6] She received a Women of Distinction Award from the Winnipeg YMCA-YWCA in 2004, and was later chosen as the local director of Equal Voice, a group that promotes the increased participation of women in political life.^[7] In 2006, she helped organize a rebuilding effort in New Orleans for Habitat For Humanity.^[8]

In July 2007, West was hired as executive director for employment services in the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region's Human Resources Department. She was named acting vice-president of Human Resources in August of the same year, and became vice-president in December. West left employment with the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region on 21 February 2008.^[9] West also became vice-president of Human Resources with a recruitment agency that provides Canadian placements to migrant workers from the Philippines, in 2007.^[10] She argued in 2008 that Canada needs overseas recruitment to counter a domestic labour shortage.^[11]

Views on health delivery

West has written several articles calling for Manitoba and Canada to develop new strategic plans for health care delivery. She believes that the Canada Health Act.^[12] West has written favourably of France and Sweden's combined public-private models, and has criticized the delivery system of the United States of America.^[13]

West and provincial Health Minister Dave Chomiak engaged in a public controversy over health care strategies in late 2001 and early 2002.^[14] In the same period, West argued that Manitobans should pay health-care premiums instead of paying for health expenses through general taxation.^[15]

Activist and political candidate

West first ran for public office in the 2003 provincial election, as a candidate of the Progressive Conservative Party. She initially sought the party's nomination for Riel, but lost to former Member of the Legislative Assembly Shirley Render at a nomination meeting in late 2002.^[16] During the nomination contest, one PC insider suggested that West's views on private health care would be a liability for the party.^[17]

West subsequently convened a public meeting on Manitoba's physician shortage, which was held at Winnipeg's Transcona Inn in early 2003. During the question and answer session, she announced that she was considering a candidacy in the division of Radission. The political overtones of this meeting were noted in a newspaper report, though West denied that it had been called for political purposes.^[18] She won the Radisson nomination, but lost to New Democratic Party candidate Bidhu Jha in the general election.

West returned to writing opinion pieces on Canada's health-care system after the election. She reiterated her support for publicly funded private clinics, and criticized the provincial government's approach to the issue.^[19] She was also a vocal opponent of Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray's tax policies, which she spoke against at several public meetings.^[20]

The Manitoba Nurses' Union criticized West in late 2003, after she led a group of her own fourth-year undergraduate students in a rally outside the provincial legislature supporting an on-the-job training program. The students received 10% of their grade for participating in the rally, leading a union official to charge that West was manipulating the course for partisan ends. She denied this, and said that her students were taught to review both sides of the issue.^[21]

West was a supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada at the federal level, and supported its merger with the more right-wing Canadian Alliance to create the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003.^[22] She ran for the new party in the 2006 federal election, and finished second against New Democratic Party incumbent Bill Blaikie in Elmwood—Transcona.

West challenged Bidhu Jha a second time in the 2007 provincial election, initially centering her campaign around local opposition to a hog-processing plant planned for construction in the Radisson area. The NDP government withdrew its support for the project during the election, and indicated that the plant would not be built. Some NDP insiders nevertheless expressed concern that their early support for the unpopular project had made the seat vulnerable.^[23] On election day, however, Jha defeated West by an increased margin.

Electoral record

All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada and Elections Manitoba. Provincial expenditures refer to candidate expenses. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.

Footnotes