VANCOUVER 鈥� The B.C. Cancer Foundation agreed to pledge $375,000 in charitable donation funds over five years to help defray the salary costs of the leader of the B.C. Cancer Agency, Dr. Max Coppes, has since resigned.
Coppes earned more than $1 million in the two years he was here 鈥� including $75,000 a year from the foundation, the 91原创 Sun has learned.
The charitable foundation is the fundraising partner of the cancer agency; it typically raises money for such things as new technology and equipment for the agency, and for research done by scientists at the B.C. Cancer Research Centre. But foundation CEO Doug Nelson said Monday he committed to subsidizing the salary of the agency head in 2012 after the then-head of the Provincial Health Services Authority 鈥� Lynda Cranston 鈥� asked him if he鈥檇 be willing to offer foundation revenue to top up the salary of a new leader so a 鈥渄ream candidate鈥� could be recruited.
Coppes, a pediatric oncologist with an international reputation, joined the agency in the late summer of 2012 but he resigned last week amid controversy over patient waiting times, slumping morale, governance and budgetary pressures affecting clinicians and researchers. He has refused to comment and has moved to the U.S. to head a hospital in Nevada.
Nelson said after Cranston鈥檚 unusual request, he agreed to pledge $75,000 a year for five years. The money was on top of Coppes鈥� annual compensation package of $561,000 a year (including benefits) from PHSA, the health authority that governs the cancer agency, B.C. Children鈥檚 and Women鈥檚 hospitals and other provincial agencies and services, all of which are funded by government.
Earlier this year, the provincial government ordered a $50,000 rollback of Coppes鈥檚 salary, on the grounds that it was 10 per cent over provincial public sector wage guidelines.
It is not clear how much of a role the salary issue played in Coppes鈥� resignation but cancer agency insiders have said it was the last straw among many frustrations for him.
PHSA president Cranston resigned in the summer of 2013, after she acknowledged she approved and exceeded provincial government wage guidelines in dozens of cases.
PHSA has launched a recruitment process for a leader to succeed Coppes. Theresa Kennedy, spokeswoman for PHSA, said the foundation will not be asked again to help cover the compensation costs. Asked if a mistake had been made, she said: 鈥淲e will not be going to the foundation to top up salaries again.鈥�
