Fraser Health is paying Dr. Victoria Lee more than $600,000 to go away.
Lee was fired as president and CEO of the health authority back in February and the details of her payout were quietly released last week.
They were included in an executive compensation disclosure for the 2024-25 fiscal year and first reported on by The Tyee this morning.
The former CEO will be paid $609,335 in instalments over an 18-month period, which began on Feb. 19, 2025, one day after her final day of employment, and will continue until Aug. 18, 2026.
The Fraser Health report indicates that the number is based on her $377,707 salary along with vacation, pension and retroactive pay. Lee will also get a one-time job search allowance of up to $16,000.
According to the BC’s Conservative Caucus, the severance pay for Lee is roughly 15 times what a nurse would get under the same circumstances, while her salary is only three or four times what an experienced nurse would make.
Surrey-White Rock MLA Trevor Halford, Conservative health critic, says this is confirmation of the BC NDP’s misplaced priorities.
"This government is rewarding failure at the top while cutting jobs lower down," Halford said.
"British Columbians are getting a masterclass in NDP priorities: golden parachutes for executives, pink slips for workers and zero accountability for the mess they’ve made of our health care system."
Halford reportedly first pressed the Minister of Health for information on Lee’s payout during a Legislature session back in April.
The Conservatives say Health Minister Josie Osborne “refused to disclose the figure.”
Halford claims the NDP’s health care record is “chaos on the front lines and cash for the corner office,” adding that it’s not putting patients or front-line workers first.
"While ERs are closing, waitlists are growing, and patients are waiting hours in hallways, the NDP expanded management ranks, blew health authority budgets, and then tried to clean up the mess in the dark," he added.
"British Columbians deserve to know how many more cushy executive payouts are coming, and how deep these cuts to the health system will go."
