Moira Stilwell

The Honourable Doctor Moira Stilwell MLA
Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Vancouver-Langara
Incumbent
Assumed office May 12, 2009
Preceded by	Carole Taylor
Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development of British Columbia
In office June 10, 2009 – October 25, 2010
Premier	Gordon Campbell
Preceded by	Murray Coell
Minister of Regional Economic and Skills Development of British Columbia
In office October 25, 2010 – November 22, 2010
Premier	Gordon Campbell
Succeeded by	Ida Chong
Personal details
Born	1953/1954 (age 61–62)
Political party	BC Liberal
Occupation	Physician (radiologist)
Religion	Judaism

Moira Stilwell (born 1953 or 1954) was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada, in 2009 to represent the riding of Vancouver-Langara. She was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation on March 14, 2011. She served as Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development in the government of B.C. from June 2009 to October 2010 when she was appointed Minister of Regional Economic and Skills Development. She resigned her Cabinet post in November 2010 to stand for election as the leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party, but withdrew from the campaign on February 16, 2011. The election subsequently occurred on February 26, 2011 and was won by Christy Clark, the current premier of British Columbia.

She is currently the Minister of Social Development (2012), after serving as Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Research and Innovation to the Minister of Jobs, Tourism and Innovation (2011/12).

Biography

Stilwell graduated from the University of Calgary Medical School. She received further training in nuclear medicine at the University of British Columbia and in radiology at the University of Toronto after that. She served for several years as the Head of Nuclear Medicine at St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Surrey Memorial Hospital, and Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Clinic but left all those positions in 2009 to run for public office. Prior to that, she worked at BC Women's Hospital, where she served as Co-Medical Director of the Breast Health Program as well as being the staff radiologist. Along with serving as a practicing physician and administrator, she was the Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.

In addition to her professional capacities, Stilwell also served as the Co-Chair of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation 2020 Task Force, and was past Chair of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation/BC Yukon Chapter. She has also served on the Board of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance and on the BC Women's Hospital Foundation Board.

Stilwell lives in Vancouver, BC, with her husband, heart surgeon Dr. Sam Lichtenstein. She has three grown children.

Campaign for the BC Liberal Party leadership

After entering the campaign to become the next leader of the Liberal Party of British Columbia, Stilwell focused her attention firmly on the importance of:

• Building a knowledge-based economy to ensure BC’s future prosperity;

• Increasing the minimum wage in BC from $8/hour to $10/hour;

• Reducing the interest rate that students in BC pay for loans to finance their studies

Stilwell also believes strongly in promoting regional economic development, particularly in north-eastern BC where the oil and gas sector is a significant contributor to the strength of the provincial economy. On a recent visit to Dawson Creek she spoke of the importance of government financial support to further bolster the infrastructure of Northern Lights College, which plays a major role in the training and education of skilled technical workers for the oil and sector industry.

Stilwell dropped out of the campaign on February 16, 2011, announcing her support for George Abbott

Action Plan for Repatriating B.C. Medical Students Studying Abroad and Conflict of Interests

In 2012, Moira named parliamentary secretary to Health, Minister Michael de Jong, to write a report called “Action Plan for Repatriating B.C. Medical Students Studying Abroad," on the subject of British Columbians who wanted to return to Canada for residency. She argued that International students often had a very difficult time returning to Canada for the limited residency positions (which are usually allocated to Canadian medical graduates). Moira argued that more positions should be made available to international medical graduates. Her suggestion, however, is in opposition to the wishes of the Canadian Resident Matching Service, which preferred the “status quo.”

As reported in the Globe and Mail, Moira had a personal stake in this issue, as her son, Kevin Lichtenstein, was studying medicine at an international university, and thus would benefit from an easier residency process.

Allegations of Corruption in Son's Medical Residency Selection

On February 6 2015, The Tyee reported that, "Cardiac surgeons on a selection committee at St. Paul's Hospital manipulated the hiring process for a training position so they could hire a student who was the son of their boss and of a provincial cabinet minister [Stilwell], documents show." During the selection process for residency, Dr. Cook at the University of British Columbia created an irregularity in the residency matching process where they left a spot open in during the first iteration of the matching process. Dr. Cook stated they had a candidate in mind who is a Canadian [who] studied medicine abroad and did an elective rotation with them, this candidate would not be eligible for 1st iteration but would be eligible for 2nd iteration. Dr. Wong, also with UBC, stated that the process followed was not "fair or transparent or equitable for the other CaRMS candidates," and further that, "the Program's actions were not compliant with the CaRMS rules and procedures and that this irregularity could be contested to CaRMS in the future by a candidate and/or a medical school."

Ultimately, the Cardiac Surgery residency slot, was opened for a 2nd iteration, a CaRMS irregularity. In that 2nd iteration, over 96 applicants applied, and Kevin Lichtenstein, the son of Sam Lichtenstein and Moira Stilwell, was selected as the successful candidate.

As Kevin Lichtenstein was an international medical graduate, he was not eligible to apply to the 1st iteration of the Cardiac Surgery program at UBC. However, because of the irregularity that occurred (which notably was not compliant with the CaRMS rules), Kevin Lichtenstein was able to apply and gain entrance into the program.

External links

• Moira Stilwell, MLA for Vancouver-Langara
• Moira Stilwell, BC Liberal Party profile