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Mr. Lockwood discovered the meaning of another word on Wednesday: “Politics.”

In the wake of a series of scandals in AHS concerning cuts, queue-jumping and inappropriate executive expenses, the bonuses proved to be politically untenable.

“There really isn’t a lot of room for people to self-declare their autonomy or territory,” Mr. Horne said Wednesday. “It’s about serving people. When we see discussion and see responses, like the response to my request yesterday, that aren’t consistent with looking after people and looking after staff, we have a problem. And we have to take action.”

And he did.

Mr. Horne fired the board and appointed as administrator Janet Davidson — a former nurse with more than three decades of experience in healthcare governance in Alberta, Ontario and B.C . As the 10 board members aren’t employees, there will be no severance pay, although the fate of the AHS-approved bonuses is still in question.

“The event [Tuesday] put me in a position where I was not able to have responsiveness to a directive issued under provincial legislation to the board,” Mr. Horne said. “Because at that point, the question of who’s in charge, the governance of the system, and the stability of the system comes into question. I’m not willing to allow that situation to continue, and neither is the premier.”

Although it’s hard to pity the likes of Mr. Lockwood — there were some board members who tried to refuse the bonuses and were denied — the government’s actions raise real questions about the ongoing tension between governments and the growing number of arms-length, quasi-independent bodies that have assumed some of their core responsibilities. This is not unique to Alberta.