Alberta to announce third-party reviewer to probe health contracts next week: Smith

EDMONTON — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says an external reviewer is to be announced next week, as her government continues to face questions surrounding allegations of corruption in health-care contracts.

The scandal stems from a lawsuit from the former CEO of Alberta Health Services.

It alleges high-level government officials interfered to secure overpriced deals for private health contractors.

Smith says her government wants to know if something went wrong with the procurement process at Alberta Health Services, the front-line provincial health authority.

She says her United Conservative Party government wants to fix any problems with that process.

Alberta’s auditor general, Doug Wylie, is also looking into contracting and procurement at the authority and Health ministry.

Smith told reporters in Calgary on Friday that there are many different proponents behind private surgical centres with different fee agreements.

“It’s a pretty vast level of incompetence at AHS if every single one of these contracts has a problem with it,” Smith said.

A wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed earlier this month by Athana Mentzelopoulos says concerns about procurement practices led her to initiate an internal investigation and a forensic audit at AHS last fall. The document says she was fired Jan. 8 before the audit was completed.

The allegations have not been tested in court. Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, who is named in the lawsuit, has said she will “vigorously” fight the claim and soon file a statement of defence.

Smith has denied any wrongdoing.

The premier was forced this week to replace a cabinet minister over the matter.

Peter Guthrie resigned as Infrastructure minister after he called in vain for LaGrange to step aside, citing concerns about contracting across government departments.

Smith has resisted demands to call a full judge-led public inquiry. She has focused the blame on AHS, saying it was responsible for negotiating contracts.

She has also accused AHS of wanting to “hoard” the health-care budget. And she has said AHS leadership were dragging their feet on the government’s mission to contract more private surgical facilities to increase surgery access.

“We actually need an Alberta Health Services CEO who is going to use the chartered surgical facilities to increase the amount of surgeries performed so that Albertans can get better care,” Smith said in the legislature Thursday.

Dan Scott, the lawyer for Mentzelopoulos, has rejected the implication that his client stood against chartered surgical facilities and was resisting expansion.

In an email earlier this month, he said concerns Mentzelopoulos raised last year were about making sure there was proper due diligence before finalizing contracts for two new chartered surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.

Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press