Former Alberta cabinet minister Tyler Shandro not guilty of unprofessional conduct, law society says

Tyler Shandro, a former Alberta cabinet minister and lawyer accused of behaving unprofessionally and using his position as health minister to obtain doctors’ personal cellphone numbers, will not be sanctioned by the Law Society of Alberta. 

A three-person panel that examined Shandro’s conduct during interactions with people in early 2020 has found he was not guilty of unprofessional conduct.

The society’s lawyers argued Shandro’s actions called his integrity into question and were an attempt to discourage public criticism. Shandro’s lawyer countered that the complaints were politically motivated and “weaponized,” having nothing to do with his practising law.

In a majority decision published Thursday, the panel wrote that Shandro’s conduct was at times inappropriate but “did not rise to the level of conduct deserving of sanction.”

One of the committee members, public adjudicator Edith Kloberdanz, wrote in a partial dissent that she would have found Shandro guilty of bringing the profession’s reputation into disrepute by attending a doctor’s home and behaving inappropriately. 

“I am pleased to have been exonerated,” Shandro said in a statement posted on social media Thursday afternoon. 

He said he is pleased to put the matter behind him, and that he applauds the panel’s decision.

Shandro was elected in 2019 as the MLA for Calgary-Acadia and held three cabinet positions between 2019 and 2022. He lost re-election by 25 votes in 2023.

Driveway incident

The complaints against Shandro date back to when he was health minister during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Dr. Mukarram Zaidi told the hearing that Shandro and his wife, Andrea, who lived on his street in Calgary, visited his home on March 21, 2020 and demanded he remove a critical social media post.

Zaidi said Shandro was yelling and crying at the time.

In a media statement later that month, Shandro described Zaidi as “a long-time political acquaintance and neighbour” and said he wanted to implore him to stop spreading false information.

In its decision, the panel said there is nothing inherently wrong about a lawyer approaching a neighbour and having an emotional conversation.

“To find Mr. Shandro guilty would mean that no lawyer could engage in an argumentative or emotionally heated private conversation with another person,” the decision said. 

Phone numbers

The second citation against Shandro alleged he used his position as health minister to obtain two doctors’ personal cellphone numbers and then contact them outside of regular working hours.

The doctors had confronted Shandro and then-premier Jason Kenney on Feb. 26, 2020, after a funding announcement at the Red Deer Regional Hospital Centre.

The event was occurring shortly after the provincial government had terminated a rate payment agreement with doctors.

Dr. Lauralee Dukeshire told the hearing she called Shandro “a liar and a cheat” that day and asked why he wouldn’t speak to doctors who worked in the hospital. 

Dr. John Julyan-Gudgeon testified he read from a prepared statement and entered an elevator with the politicians but was “shoved” out by security. 

In his testimony, Shandro said he texted Alberta Health Services’ vice-president of community engagement and communications to ask who the doctors were, and to say he was willing to speak with them.

The AHS official shared their names and numbers, not indicating whether they were business or private numbers, with Shandro. He called them that night.

Shandro told the hearing that he assumed both doctors wanted to speak with him but did not confirm that with AHS.

The panel members wrote in their decision that they did not see the events as violating the doctors’ privacy rights and that nothing in the phone conversations was unprofessional.

Email warning

The third citation related to how Shandro responded to Calgarian Janice Fraser, who had emailed his wife on March 20, 2020. 

Fraser’s email accused Shandro and his wife of being in a conflict of interest through a health benefits company they owned. Marguerite Trussler, the ethics commissioner at the time, had examined the allegation about the company and found that there was no conflict of interest.

In his reply to the email, Shandro called the message threatening and said if Fraser emailed his wife again, the email would be referred to protective services.

Fraser told the hearing the response “petrified” her and that there was a power imbalance between her and the minister.

The panel wrote that Shandro’s email was improper but not an outright threat.