Tyler Shandro

Shandro is married to Andrea and they have two children.[9] His great-uncle Andrew Shandro served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the Whitford electoral district from 1913 to 1922 representing the Liberal Party of Alberta.[5] The hamlet of Shandro, Alberta in Two Hills County is named in honour of Shandro's ancestors.

Shandro was a long time volunteer with the Progressive Conservative (PC) Association of Alberta. Following the party's defeat in the 2015 Alberta general election, Shandro ran unsuccessfully for party president against Katherine O'Neill.[5] During this time Shandro rejected calls to merge the PCs with the Wildrose Party, describing how "I don't think it's legally permissible".[5] However, after joining the Alberta Conservative Consolidation Committee (an organization of conservative lawyers), Shandro supported the amalgamation and wrote one of the legal briefs arguing the amalgamation was legally possible.[10] Shandro served on the committee which set out the terms forming the UCP following the 2017 merger of the PCs and Wildrose Party.[5]

Shandro contested the 2019 Alberta general election in the district of Calgary-Acadia which was previously held by New Democratic Party (NDP) MLA Brandy Payne, who retired from politics following the closure of the 29th Alberta Legislature. Shandro captured 12,615 votes (54 per cent) defeating five other opponents including the next closest candidate, New Democrat Kate Andrews, with 8,049 votes (35 per cent).[11]

On April 30, 2019, Shandro was appointed as the minister of health.[12]

Shandro announced in 2021 that $400 million in operational funding would be invested towards the new version of the Affordability Supportive Living Initiative. Shandro estimated that 3,800 would be replacement beds and 2,200 would be new beds.[13]

The UCP has often been accused of health worker layoffs with NDP health critic Shepherd often asking Shandro about what the new provincial healthcare funding plans would look like. Shandro has repeatedly denied that there have had been no layoffs while highlighting that the 2021-22 budget in-fact increased health spending by 4%.[14]

On March 19, 2020, concerns were raised on social media[15] that there was a potential conflict of interest on the part of Shandro, who has shares in Vital Partners, along with his wife's sister, and his wife, Andrea Shandro.[16] In response to complaints sent to the ethics commissioner's office about Shandro's alleged conflict of interest, the ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler, wrote in a March 20, 2020, letter that, since Shandro was not the director of Shandro Holdings, the company that owns Vital Partners, and since his shares in that company are in a blind trust, he has done "all that is required to be in compliance with the Conflict of Interest Act".[17]

After news of this controversy the Shandro family were subjected to vicious personal attacks often done through social media.[18]

On March 22, Shandro and his wife went to the residence of one of Shandro's neighbours, a Calgary physician (who was at that time also a UCP member). The resident claimed that Shandro berated him for posting content regarding Shandro's potential conflict of interest regarding Vital Partners on Facebook.[19] Shandro has denied that his tone during the encounter was berate. Following the incident, Opposition MLAs called on Premier Kenney to fire Shandro.[19] The neighbour was asked him to remove the post, which he did and later said that he has "forgiven him [Shandro] and his wife" and that "They acted out of character".[19] Shandro responded to the media controversy in a March 27 statement, saying that the social media posts regarding Vital Partners had led to his family being "subjected to an online campaign of defamation".[20] In his March 27 statement he said he regretted his actions because they were a distraction from the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] Shandro was supported by Premier Kenney, who said that Shandro's behaviour was understandable given that the minister felt his family was under attack.[21][22]

A March 27 CBC article described another incident in which Shandro allegedly threatened a constituent who had confronted him about the conflict of interest, saying he would contact provincial security services.[23]

On April 3, the CBC published an article detailing how Shandro had allegedly obtained the personal phone numbers of two physicians from Alberta Health Services illegally. He phoned the two individuals on their private phones, which raised concerns about privacy violations.[24]

By the end of March, there was considerable media coverage of Shandro's response to these concerns including articles in the Medicine Hat News,[25][26] the Edmonton Journal,[16][21] and CBC News,[23] A CBC article described how Vital Partners could potentially profit from changes to provincial physician reimbursement that led to physicians having to fire staff and shutter practices. The media coverage of the confrontation resulted in the political opposition and citizens calling for Shandro's resignation.[21]

Shandro struggled to recover from these allegations, with an April poll showing 34 per cent of Albertans expressing their approval for his handling of COVID-19—the lowest approval rating in Canada.[27] In a July 2020 survey of Alberta doctors, 98% of respondents said that they had lost confidence in Shandro.[28]

Bill 21 gave Shandro the right to unilaterally end the long-standing master agreement with the Alberta Medical Association (AMA).[29] He terminated the agreement on March 30 and introduced a new fee structure which Shandro stressed would provide $5.4 billion in annual funding among other supports.[30] On April 9, the AMA filed a lawsuit against the province, citing the termination of the agreement as well as the "government's conduct during negotiations".[31] On March 30, 2021, Alberta doctors voted 53 percent to turn down a negotiated offer to settle their long standing dispute with the government.[32]

On September 21, 2021, Premier Jason Kenney shuffled him out of the cabinet position as health minister. NDP leader Rachel Notley stated that the news of his departure was "welcome" however "Alberta is facing a crisis in our hospitals but the UCP can't see beyond the chaotic spectacle of their own infighting."[33]

On September 21, 2021, Shandro was appointed as the Minister of Labour and Immigration, swapping roles with Jason Copping, who took over the health portfolio.[34]

Shandro took over the role of Minister of Justice and Solicitor General of Alberta on February 25, 2022, swapping portfolios with Kaycee Madu, who was demoted after a probe found he attempted to interfere with the administration of justice.[35]

As Justice Minister, Shandro has been critical of the federal Liberal government plan to ban handguns and further restrict semi-automatic rifles. He sponsored the Alberta Firearms Act which is said to counter what the Alberta government sees as federal overreach. The Alberta Firearms Act received royal assent on March 28, 2023.[36] "We disagree with the confiscation program, so we don't think that there should be anyone involved in being engaged as a seizure agent for the confiscation program," Shandro stated.[37] [38] Much of the act expands the responsibilities and powers given to the provincial Chief Firearms Officer, as well as regulation powers that the government can use in orders in-council concerning future "firearms matters".[39]

On April 5 of the same year, the act was referenced in a news release from Shandro's Justice Ministry as legislation (along with the Municipal Governments Firearms Amendments Act) that the province may use to regulate the federal firearms buy-back program. Specifically, this usage of the act is claimed to give to the Alberta government the final word before municipal and / or police services enter into funding agreements or accept funding from the federal government to take part in the federal program.[40]