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The surprise new member of Alberta’s most important public authority is — Stephen Mandel.

He joins the governing board of Alberta Health Services, the same one that reported to him when he was health minister in the Jim Prentice PC government.

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Mandel’s appointment was approved by the Kenney cabinet and announced Thursday. Also appointed Thursday was Heidi Overguard, a rural businesswoman and community leader.

Mandel, of course, is a former three-term Edmonton mayor. Later he was provincial health minister until the PCs were defeated in 2015.

Then he led the Alberta Party through this year’s provincial election. His moderate conservative crew was shut out.

Mandel was critical of the UCP in that election campaign, although his rhetoric fell fall short of NDP excoriation.

He recently had a long talk with Health Minister Tyler Shandro. With the approval of Premier Jason Kenney (obviously) Mandel was invited to stand and then appointed.