Dominic Giroux leaving HSN to lead Hôpital Montfort

Dominic Giroux, president and CEO of Health Sciences North, is leaving in June to become president and CEO of Hôpital Montfort in Ottawa.

Hôpital Montfort is Ontario’s French-language academic health sciences centre.

Giroux’s last day will be June 15, officials said in a news release Thursday.

The announcement comes a few months after Ontario’s auditor general was critical of Giroux time as president of Laurentian University.

Giroux was president and vice-chancellor of LU from 2009 to 2017 before assuming his CEO role at HSN.

The auditor’s report highlighted that during Giroux’s tenure at LU the university took on considerable debt as the campus expanded its physical footprint.

The university eventually filed for insolvency under the Companies Creditor’s Arrangement Act (CCAA), which allowed the university to layoff more than 100 staff members and terminate their agreement with Huntington University, Thorneloe University and the University of Sudbury.

In a preliminary report released last April, Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk laid much of the blame at the feet of senior administration, including Giroux, although he was not mentioned by name.

“In spite of the increasingly poor financial condition of the university, the administration continued to pursue major capital expansion instead of addressing the accumulating annual financial deficits,” Lysyk said in her report.

She was also critical of the hiring spree of administration staff under Giroux that not only swelled the ranks of non-teaching staff, but was done using questionable hiring practices.

“Between 2010 and 2020, Laurentian’s senior administrator costs grew by about 75 per cent, increasing between 2010 and 2018 and declining thereafter,” the report said.

“In 2018, the cost for senior administrator salaries at the university peaked, at over $4 million ... As well, the university made expensive hiring decisions, without documented justification, to hire special advisers for the president and senior administrators; this cost over $2.4 million from April 2010 to December 2021.”

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In the news release from HSN on Thursday, Giroux said he was pleased with his time at the hospital.

“It has been an honour to serve the people of Northeastern Ontario over the past five and half years at HSN and HSNRI,” said Giroux, in the press release.

“I am proud of our collective accomplishments made possible by the dedication and can-do attitude of our employees and medical staff, and the strong support of board members, Patient and Family Advisors, volunteers, learners, the foundations and volunteer association, donors, external partners, Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health.”

HSN and HSNRI Board of Directors Chair, Daniel Giroux (no relation), thanked Dominic for his leadership since October 2017.

“Dominic will leave big shoes to fill,” said Daniel.

“Under his leadership, our financial position has improved and we have had an effective pandemic response. We have received funding for additional hospital beds and for a wide range of new specialized services.”

HSN’s accreditation site visit is scheduled for early in June and with its completion, the development of hospital’s next strategic plan should start this fall, so the timing is right for a CEO transition, said the board chair.

Daniel said HSN performs at or better than the average comparable hospitals in Canada and Shirley and Jim Fielding Northeast Cancer Centre ranks first among the provinces 14 regional centres, explaining both status improved over his tenure.

“Hôpital Montfort is very fortunate to be recruiting him,” said Daniel.

The HSN and HSNRI Boards of Directors will form a 13-member search committee as per board policy.

“The work of recruiting a new CEO will commence immediately,” HSN officials said, in the release.