Former CEO of Alberta Health Services (AHS) files a $1.7 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit, alleging pressure from government officials to accept overpriced contracts from private surgical companies with UCP ties. The lawsuit details concerns raised with the AHS board and Health Minister, claims of inappropriate pressure from senior government officials, and unsettling communications warning of potential danger. Premier Smith denies knowledge of the situation, but the allegations raise serious questions about government transparency and potential misconduct.
against AHS and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange. The allegations have yet to be proven in court, but even on their own, they amount to a devastating indictment of the culture surrounding Premierawarded to private surgical companies, some of whose principals had connections with Ms. Smith’s United Conservative Party government. It is Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s contention that she faced “interference and pressure” from government officials to accept deals that were overpriced compared to other options.
If some in the Smith government thought a long-time bureaucrat like Ms. Mentzelopoulos – one with an impeccable, unassailable reputation – would simply go quietly into the night, they were wrong. And all of this happened, we are supposed to believe, without the Premier’s knowledge. The CEO of the province’s health services agency has all these concerns, ones raised directly with the Premier’s Minister of Health and the Premier’s own then-deputy minister, and yet allegedly, none of the details reached her desk.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos said Marshall Smith called her on a September day in 2024 to ask about the status of negotiations on charter surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge. She says he told her that there were people involved with one company, Alberta Surgical Group, who were growing impatient with delays, and that they were “serious people – don’t mess with them.”
News Canada Alberta Health Services Wrongful Dismissal UCP Contracts Political Scandal Premier Smith Adriana Lagrange Government Transparency
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