There’s great irony in government launching a cost-saving review by appointing a new person with an almost $400,000 salary to oversee it. But if Health Minister Josie Osborne saw that incongruity Monday, she didn’t let on — instead, charging forward aggressively to defend hiring Dr. Penny Ballem at a pricey compensation package to begin nickel-and-diming a system that, over the last two decades, Ballem helped create.

“Her extensive experience in the health-care sector, and the different roles that she has played all of these years, I think she is in a very unique and good position to be able to help lead this review,” said Osborne.

Ballem was named interim CEO of the Provincial Health Services Authority on Monday, to lead an internal efficiency review into agencies like BC Cancer, BC Children’s Hospital, BC Women’s Hospital, BC Emergency Health Services and the BC Centre for Disease Control.

The move........

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