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We’re not talking here about Hoffman interfering to help a friend jump the queue for an operation. We’re talking about Hoffman making sure AHS follows government direction.

Undermining Kaminski’s argument was a news release Wednesday from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who disputed Kaminski’s allegations over the plan to split up the 911 call centre.

“Given Ms. Kaminski’s refusal to listen to our legitimate concerns, I raised these issues directly with the minister, who took immediate action,” said Nenshi. “Minister Hoffman did the right thing for Calgarians and she should be applauded for her actions.”

The New Democrats are determined to do things differently than the PCs, whether that’s protecting the environment, hiking the minimum wage or ending the fiction perpetrated by the PCs that AHS is an independent agency.

The PCs liked to say AHS was an arm’s-length agency, but they regularly stepped in when they didn’t like what the board was doing. In 2012, then health minister Fred Horne fired the entire board in a dispute with the government.

AHS is funded completely by government and follows rules set by government. It operates at arm’s length from government the way a puppet operates at arm’s length from a puppeteer.

In October 2015, Hoffman named a new board to run AHS and made sure everyone knew she was in charge.

“I know the buck stops with the minister, and I’m fine with that,” she said at the time.

A few weeks after the board was named, Kaminski resigned. Her letter of resignation remained secret until it was leaked to the CBC this week.