Alberta premier shuffles deputy ministers amid AHS controversy; requesting third-party investigation

Alberta's health minister received one strong vote of confidence from the premier amid allegations of government interference.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is standing behind her health minister amid allegations of corruption in Alberta Health Services (AHS), announcing a shuffle of deputy ministers and a third-party investigation into the health authority’s procurement practices on Wednesday.

Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange made their first official public comments together on Wednesday since former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos filed a lawsuit alleging wide-scale corruption within the organization orchestrated by high-ranking members of the governing United Conservative Party (UCP).

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Both the premier and health minister doubled down on previous claims they are not at fault.

“I was not involved in these procurement decisions. I had nothing to do with the process decisions or the implementation,” Smith said.

“The allegations and claims that have been made against me are false,” LaGrange added.

A week after the lawsuit was filed, the premier says she sees no proof of wrongdoing.

“We have a number of allegations made in the context of a demand letter for $1.7 million, I think we have to remember that context, and we have yet to see the Minister’s statement of defense that gives the other side of the story,” Smith said.

LaGrange says she knew of concerns over certain surgical contracts but didn’t tell the premier.

“I need something substantive. My understanding is that everyone is innocent unless proven guilty,” the health minister said.

The premier announced two role changes within Alberta Health and AHS as an investigation into the claims by the province’s auditor general proceeds.

Andre Tremblay, the deputy minister of health, will continue as the interim CEO and official administrator of AHS.

Darren Hedley, the current associate deputy minister of health, will work as the acting deputy minister of health.

Smith said the allegations are “serious” and she has asked the auditor general to expedite the review. She has directed government departments to cooperate with the investigation and support the auditor general in “any way it can.”

Additionally, the province is working to retain an independent third party with a legal background who can investigate the allegations surrounding AHS’s procurement practices independently of government.

“So that we can understand exactly what occurred, with regards to the procurement processes in question, whether there was any wrongdoing or improper interference with the procurement process,” Smith said.

“And why, despite months of requests, AHS never brought any substantive evidence or documentation related to this matter to the minister or our government.”

There have been calls from some health workers, the opposition and even some within the premier’s cabinet to push LaGrange out of her role, but the premier and ministers seem content with her.

“It’s a tough job. Any time you’re making change, you’re going to have people who don’t like it,” Ric Wilson, Alberta Indigenous relations minister, said.

“The allegations are serious and we take them seriously, and we look forward to seeing how the investigations turn out,” Todd Loewen, minister of forestry and parks, added.

‘Legal conflicts wall’

The premier said a “legal conflicts wall” is being set up within AHS and Alberta Health so LaGrange and others named in the suit can continue with their work transforming AHS.

LaGrange said she will be filing a statement of defense in the coming weeks and will “vigorously” defend herself against the claims. The health minister says she “repeatedly asked AHS for documentation to substantiate the concerns that were raised.”

“It was extremely concerning that no substantive information and documentation have been provided to government after many, many months of requesting it. And that is why I issued a directive in December to compel AHS to share all details related to chartered surgical facility contracts,” LaGrange said.

“Issuing this directive was not about shutting down the review of AHS that had started. To the contrary, it was about understanding whether there was actual evidence of problems that were raised by the former CEO of AHS, or whether AHS management was simply attempting to disrupt the growth of chartered surgical facilities in the health-care system.”

We don’t know who will conduct the third-party review into AHS procurement practices, and there are still no plans for a public inquiry.

“What does that mean? What’s the independent reviewer going to be? Is it going to be a judicial body that can compel testimony, get around NDAs?” Paul Parks, the former president of the Alberta Medical Association, said.

Despite repeated allegations of government interference in the lawsuit, there was limited talk of that on Wednesday.

“This is fairly typical of this government to scapegoat AHS when there are issues and to not always take a long, hard look into their own role in these scandals,” said Lorian Hardcastle, with the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law.

The opposition NDP is calling on the government for a public inquiry into the allegations led by a judge.

“Today’s press conference was nothing more than a master class in gaslighting. The premier’s story makes no sense, and she’s clearly trying to hide the truth about alleged government corruption,” NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said Wednesday.

“She refuses to fire the people implicated, and she refuses to call a proper public inquiry. So, despite all her talk of ‘legal walls,’ people will be investigating, and reporting to, their own bosses. Albertans have every right to be deeply suspicious.

Statement of claim

In the statement of claim, Mentzelopoulos alleges the former health agency rewarded friends of the Smith government and attacked critics.

None of the claims have been proven in court.

The lawsuit claims Mentzelopoulos was pressured “to terminate purported critics of the government” and that “private detectives, lawyers, and (apparently) hackers were being used to discover the identity of the person(s) posting” critically online about the government.

It names the premier’s former chief of staff Marshall Smith and LaGrange countless times.

It also names Nate Pike, an AHS employee who is behind The Breakdown, a web series that openly criticized the provincial government.

Mentzelopoulos said Marshall Smith told her “powerful people” were upset about Pike’s comments and a lawsuit was soon to be filed against him.

Marshall Smith and LaGrange have called the allegations false and will be filing statements of defence before the 20-day window runs out.

Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Mentzelopoulos alleges the province handed out inflated contracts for private clinic surgeries.

She claims taxpayer funds paid for purposely overpriced contracts with friends of the UCP government.

“The minister has reported that she asked the former AHS CEO on a number of occasions, for many months, for information or reports on the issues that are now the subject of her statement of claim, with little or no response, and that’s not good enough,” Smith said Wednesday.

“The former CEO knew that procurement was about to move into the new procurement secretariat. If there was evidence of problems with AHS procurement, I’d like to know why she didn’t disclose it to the minister.

“We will get to the bottom of what happened here, and if there’s any wrongdoing, we will fix it immediately; if mistakes were made, they will be corrected.”

Investigation underway

Alberta Auditor General Doug Wylie launched an investigation into AHS’ procurement and contracting processes after Mentzelopoulos’ claims were made public earlier this month.

Wylie said the examination would pertain to “chartered surgical facilities, medication (ibuprofen or acetaminophen), and COVID-19 personal protection equipment.”

Following a CBC report that one of Smith’s ministers called for LaGrange to be switched to a different portfolio during the investigation, Smith on the weekend said she asked all of her ministers for their recommendations.

Asked during her provincewide phone-in radio program on Saturday if it was true that Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie asked for LaGrange to be removed pending the investigation, Smith said, “If you want to get honest input, you have to be prepared to hear what people have to say,” adding that “not everyone agrees with Minister Guthrie.”

With files from The Canadian Press