Smith and Nenshi go toe to toe over AHS's DynaLIFE contract

Premier Danielle Smith and NDP leader Naheed Nenshi sparred over AHS’s contract with DynaLIFE during Thursday’s Question Period. “I have never seen an auditor general's report quite like this one on the DynaLIFE scandal,” said Nenshi. Auditor General Doug Wylie’s office released its report on Community Laboratory Services’ contract with DynaLIFE on Wednesday, highlighting errors in documentation and governance by AHS and the Department of Health. In the report, the AG office stated that their examination process faced significant difficulties due to a number of delays and restrictions when attempting to obtain documents from AHS, with limited help from the Department of Health. “Can the premier explain today why her government did not cooperate with the Auditor General in the preparation of this report and what measures she is personally taking to ensure more transparency in the future?” In response, Smith shifted the focus from her government to AHS, which has experienced several leadership changes since Smith assumed office. “I think the most serious allegations were levelled against AHS when the new CEO destroyed the notes of the outgoing CEO, Mauro Chies, and so I think AHS does have a lot to answer for with its internal practices,” said Smith. The report stated that the AHS CEO handed over his handwritten notebook to AHS before leaving prior to 2024, and that AHS later informed the AG that the notes had been destroyed, despite the AG’s request to preserve evidence. According to the AG report, the Department of Health supported AHS in disrupting the investigation, a claim Smith denies. “And I can tell you that the government did, in fact, fully cooperate with the auditor general's investigation,” Smith said. “And any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect.” .Nenshi then focused on the finding that the Minister of Health played a key role in persuading AHS to enter into the contract with DynaLIFE, despite AHS’s hesitations due to concerns, including a possible $84 million overestimate of savings.Once again, Smith replied by shifting the blame away from her government, this time onto the previous regime. “Decisions were made on this in May of 2022; neither this health minister nor I were in this chamber, nor was the member opposite,” Smith said. “When we came in in April of 2023, after the election in May, we saw that there were problems with the way in which the DynaLIFE contract was being administered.” The battle between the two leaders persisted through the rest of Nenshi’s QP, ending with Smith taking a victory lap. “I took responsibility in May of 2023 when myself and the new Health Minister took a look at the situation and said that it was a mistake, and we ended up turning it over to Alberta Precision Labs,” Smith said. “And the nice part about it, Mr. Speaker, was, within a matter of weeks, our hard-working public servants at Health Sciences Association, all those incredible lab workers, they managed to solve that backlog very quickly, and we have not had the same kind of problem since.”