The Alberta NDP is calling for a full public inquiry into allegations of high-level UCP government corruption in medical contracts for private surgical facilities with the province.
The controversy surrounds allegations made by Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former head of Alberta Health Services.
Mentzelopoulos, in a letter from her lawyer obtained by the Globe and Mail, alleges she was fired last month because she was investigating questionable deals, overpriced contracts with private surgical facilities and conflicts of interest that reached into the office of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
The letter alleges Mentzelopoulos was pressured by government staff to sign new contracts and extensions for private surgical facilities, despite having concerns about ownership groups and cost figures.
The letter also alleges Mentzelopoulos was fired Jan. 8, two days before she was to meet with the auditor general to discuss her findings into overpriced contracts with private surgical centres and suppliers.
Global News has not seen the letter.
Alberta premier Danielle Smith speaks to reporters in Washington on Wednesday during a visit to the American capital by Canada’s premiers.
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Speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time on Wednesday, during a trip to Washington by Canada’s premiers, Smith said “if there’s wrongdoing, we’d like to get to the bottom of it.”
Alberta Health Services, along with the province’s auditor general Doug Wylie, have announced they will be looking into questions surrounding health procurement — and the health minister’s office said an unnamed third party has also been called in to investigate.
However, the Opposition NDP says the allegations are so serious they warrant an investigation by the RCMP, the ethics commissioner as well as a full public inquiry — and they want the Alberta legislature to be recalled.
“We are looking for answers and investigations at all these levels because the allegations go right to the heart of so many issues. They go to potential criminality, potential conflict of interest, potential improper procurement processes,” said Rakhi Pancholi, deputy leader of the Alberta NDP.
“The whole issue here is about secrecy and cover up potentially from the government.
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“We cannot then ask that same government to investigate itself and to rely on, again, a secretive contract with a third party to do that fulsomely.”
When asked about the issue on Wednesday, Smith said, “We’ve been asking for eight months for any, as I understand it, from my health minister (Adriana LaGrange), for any indication of wrongdoing. We’ve not seen any.”
But when asked when she first became aware of concerns over contracts at AHS, Smith responded by saying, “I first became aware of it when I saw the newspaper reporting on it, and we were interested in hearing what the auditor general has to say. We’ve already set up a shared file so that they can get all the documents that we have to see if there is any wrongdoing.
“If there’s wrongdoing, we’d like to get to the bottom of it.”
LaGrange’s only public comment came Tuesday, when she spoke with reporters for less than one minute on her way into a cabinet meeting at the Alberta legislature.
Mount Royal political science professor Duane Bratt questioned the premier’s conflicting timelines.
“Which is it? Is it eight months or is it one week?” Bratt said.
“In addition, she signed the order in council that fired the CEO of AHS — was she unaware of that? That was in early January. Is that the first time she heard about it?
“Was it in January when the CEO got fired, or was it in February when the Globe and Mail reported on the CEO being fired?”
When asked about the apparent contradiction, the premier’s office responded by saying, “the premier became aware of the procurement allegations made by the former AHS CEO when she read about them in the media.”
The statement continued by saying, “Minister LaGrange was made aware of the existence of concerns from the former CEO related to procurement close to eight months ago,” but since then, “no substantive information or documentation were provided.”
For Bratt, neither of those answers are good enough.
“The internal AHS report, whether it’s done by an outside party or not, still goes to the premier before it gets released to the public,” said Bratt. “What sort of redactions are there?
“This is a growing scandal and unfortunately, the comments that Smith gave this morning really don’t answer any of those questions.”
Pancholi said the AHS review amounts to the government investigating itself, since deputy health minister Andre Tremblay is now CEO and sole administrator of the health authority, as the board was also fired on Jan. 31.
While Smith said she still has full confidence in her health minister, the NDP is asking both Smith and LaGrange to step aside while the investigations are underway.
The deputy leader of the Alberta NDP Rakhi Pancholi says Alberta’s premier and health minister should step aside until the allegations of high level government corruption have been properly investigated.
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“Danielle Smith and Adriana LaGrange are directly implicated in these allegations. They cannot oversee an investigation into their own government’s conduct if they have any respect for Albertans and any respect for the rule of law,” said Pancholi.
“If they truly have no part to play in these allegations, then they must step aside while this investigation unfolds. Anything less is an insult to the people of this province.
“Anything less is a cover-up of corruption. Albertans deserve better.”
RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Troy Savinkoff said Wednesday that Mounties were still reviewing the allegations.
AHS said last week it will suspend awarding contracts to firms at the centre of its investigation but has not specified what those firms are.
— with files from Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press