Politics
She ran for the BC Liberals in the 2009 provincial election,and was elected member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Vancouver-Langara by a margin of 4,275 votes. [2] [4] She was named to the cabinet by Premier Gordon Campbell that June as Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development, [5] before being re-assigned as Minister of Regional Economic and Skills Development in October 2010. [6] [7]
With Campbell resigning as premier and Liberal leader amidst the controversial implementation of the harmonized sales tax,Stilwell resigned her cabinet post in November 2010 to run for party leadership,becoming the first declared candidate in the race. [8] [9] During her campaign,Stilwell focused her attention on the importance of building a knowledge-based economy to ensure BC’s future prosperity; [10] increasing the minimum wage in BC from $8/hour to $10/hour;and reducing the interest rate that students in BC pay for loans to finance their studies. [11]
Stilwell dropped out of the campaign on February 16,2011,announcing her support for George Abbott. [12] [13] The leadership election subsequently occurred on February 26,2011 and was won by Christy Clark. Initially without a ministerial role in Clark's cabinet,Stilwell was instead appointed parliamentary secretary for industry,research and innovation to the Minister of Jobs,Tourism and Innovation on March 14,2011,before becoming parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health in March 2012. [14] She returned to the cabinet in September 2012 as Minister of Social Development. [15]
At the 2013 provincial election,she defeated New Democrat George Chow by 2,787 votes to win re-election as Vancouver-Langara MLA. [16] She stayed on the backbenches for the duration of the 40th Parliament,and announced her decision to retire from politics on June 17,2016, [17] finishing her term as MLA in May 2017.
Controversy
In 2012,Stilwell wrote a letter and report titled "Action Plan for Repatriating B.C. Medical Students Studying Abroad" to Mike de Jong,the Minister of Health Services,on the subject of British Columbians who wanted to return to Canada for their medical residency. [18] In her report,she admits "The Ministry of Health Services and the UBC Faculty of Medicine maintain that BC medical students studying abroad must be treated the same as immigrant physicians applying to the BC IMG program because to do otherwise would be a violation of human rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights",but she argued that Canadians Studying Abroad (CSAs) should be treated the same as Canadian and American trained medical school graduates,i.e. preferentially treated over International Medical Graduates (IMGs). International Medical Graduates often have a very difficult time obtaining very limited residency positions in Canada. [19]
As reported in Maclean's and The Tyee,she had an apparent and undisclosed personal stake in this issue,as her son,Kevin Lichtenstein,was studying medicine at an international university,and thus would benefit from an easier residency process. [19] [20]
On February 6,2015,The Tyee reported that,"Cardiac surgeons on a selection committee at St. Paul's Hospital manipulated the hiring process for a training position so they could hire a student who was the son of their boss and of a provincial cabinet minister [Stilwell],documents show." [21] During the selection process for residency,Dr. Cook at the University of British Columbia created an irregularity in the residency matching process where they left a spot open in during the first iteration of the matching process. Dr. Cook stated they had a candidate in mind who is a Canadian [who] studied medicine abroad and did an elective rotation with them. This candidate would not be eligible for first iteration but would be eligible for second iteration. Dr. Wong,also with UBC,stated that the process followed was not "fair or transparent or equitable for the other CaRMS [Canadian Residency Matching Service] candidates," and further that "the Program's actions were not compliant with the CaRMS rules and procedures and that this irregularity could be contested to CaRMS in the future by a candidate and/or a medical school." [21]
Ultimately,the Cardiac Surgery residency slot was opened for a second iteration,a CaRMS irregularity. In that second iteration,over 96 applicants applied,and her son was selected as the successful candidate. As he was an international medical graduate,he was not eligible to apply to the first iteration of the Cardiac Surgery program at UBC. However,because of the irregularity that occurred (which notably was not compliant with the CaRMS rules),he was able to apply and gain entrance into the program. [21]
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