During a question and answer session in Edmonton Friday, the Western Standard asked Alberta Premier Danielle Smith about the evolving Alberta Health Services (AHS) scandal, which now involves an RCMP investigation.
The scandal centres on allegations of political interference and corruption in the procurement practices of Alberta's health authority. The controversy emerged after former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos filed a $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit in February, claiming she was fired in January for investigating inflated contracts with private surgical providers and potential conflicts of interest.
Her lawsuit alleges pressure from high-level government officials to approve overpriced deals, sparking public and political outcry. On Thursday, RCMP confirmed they launched a formal investigation into the allegations following a complaint. Initially under review, the probe has now escalated, though specific details, including the complainant’s identity, remain undisclosed.
The Western Standard asked Smith, "Given the current situation and how the AHS (matter) has evolved over the last few days, now the RCMP are potentially involved. I'm wondering if you have any regrets in terms of how the situation evolved?"
"There's still something that we have to resolve, obviously, because AHS procurement was not very transparent, and so we've discovered that there are multiple different facilities providing the same service at different prices, and we want to get to the bottom of that," she said. "If there are any problems with procurement processes, we want to address them."
Smith continued, "I'll tell you what the main dispute is about. It's really about whether we should be having alternative service providers giving service to Albertans or not. Should we have a single monopoly managed by Alberta Health Services, where they have not only the power to deliver all services, but also contract to their competitors?"
Smith added, "And we made a policy decision in November of 2023 we're very transparent about it — that we were splitting those roles. That AHS is going to become a service provider. We are in the process of transferring over 700 facilities to Government of Alberta ownership and firmly cementing AHS as an operator."
Alberta’s auditor general is conducting an independent examination of AHS procurement practices, focusing on the claims of inflated contracts with private surgical providers, and others, as well as potential conflicts of interest.
Also, the province appointed an external third-party investigator to probe specific allegations.
Smith and her administration have committed to cooperating with the police probe into the alleged corruption and interference.
