In the end, it was the only decision they had.The Sun Country Health Region announced Friday that Hal Schmidt, the region's vice-president of financial and corporate services, had resigned from his position. Schmidt had been under intense scrutiny since June when it was reported by the Moosomin World Spectator that he had been fired from a job in Nova Scotia for lying on his resume by saying that he was a chartered accountant. In the weeks since that report surfaced, a number of other question marks and shady dealings have been uncovered, creating a black cloud over Schmidt that clearly wasn't going away.Although the press release indicated that Schmidt resigned from his position, you can be sure he was pushed out the door. Sun Country really had no other option in this matter. To maintain any level of confidence in the public eye, they had to remove Schmidt from what is arguably the second most important position in the region. According to what many have said about Schmidt, he was doing a good job for Sun Country and there had been no reason to question his honesty. Still, when the man who controls the purse strings of a budget in excess of $100 million has so many question marks about him, action must be taken.And so, Sun Country acted. The region's board of directors made the decision to get rid of Schmidt and attempt to regain some of the public's lost trust, a move they deserve credit for. But where they failed miserably was in not also demanding the resignation of the man who hired Schmidt, CEO Cal Tant.By allowing Tant to keep his job, they have simply shifted the black cloud from Schmidt to their CEO, the man who, unarguably, holds the most important position in the region.Although this Schmidt debacle may also speak to an urgent need for Sun Country to review the voracity of its hiring practices, there is no getting around it that Tant was the person who was directly responsible for Schmidt's employment with the region. Despite all the questions that were swirling around in Schmidt's background, some of which he knew about and some which he likely didn't, Tant still hired him to this critical position.So what Sun Country has now is a black cloud firmly planted over the last place they want it, their CEO.It's obviously not fair to call a man's whole record of service into question over one hiring. But under Tant's watch, the number of doctors at St. Joseph's Hospital has dropped to perilously low numbers and the handling of bed closures in Wawota has been an embarrassing comedy of errors.Given the dubious level of judgment shown in the Schmidt hiring and these other matters, how can Sun Country expect the public to have any sort of confidence in the decision making process employed by Tant? How can they trust that the next time he makes an important decision that will affect the lives of the 54,000 people, he is making the right one? They can't, and because of that the Sun Country board of directors must also demand Tant pack his bags as well.In the end, it's the only decision they have.
