Bell: Tale of the AHS allegations — who knew what, and when did they know it?​on February 19, 2025 at 2:15 am

The question isn’t going away. Not yet.

What did Premier Danielle Smith know and when did she know it?

This was a question once asked decades ago by an American Republican senator of an American Republican president.

When Athana Mentzelpoulos, the fired former boss at Alberta Health Services, alleges senior government officials interfered in the health-care system, pressuring her to ink allegedly overpriced, big-money contracts with certain private surgical facilities, it would be a dereliction of duty not to ask what the person at the top knew.

The former health head honcho was digging into the issue but was canned, as was the AHS board shortly after her exit.

Mentzelopoulos is suing the province for $1.7 million and filed a statement of claim not for the faint-hearted.

The buck stops somewhere.

Of course, Smith has answered this question.

The premier says she did absolutely nothing wrong and the allegations are troubling and she first became aware of the former AHS boss alleging corruption when she read about it in the press.

The problem is people continue to ask the question and they are not all latte-lifting lefties nor are they all supporters of the NDP nor are they all opponents of publicly-funded private surgical facilities.

Many are, no doubt. But not all.

Some are conservatives who back in the day opposed the cronyism and corruption of the former PC dynasty known as Toryland.

They were shocked and appalled so much by what they heard coming out of Toryland these conservatives actually supported a separate political party.

As you know that party was Wildrose and was led by … you guessed it … Danielle Smith.

These people ask because in the allegations are the names of Smith’s former chief of staff Marshall Smith and senior government people, including health minister Adriana LaGrange.

Let it be noted LaGrange is filing a detailed statement of defence within days.

These are people who back Smith’s leadership and who are a big part of the reason Smith and the UCP are 15 points ahead of the NDP in a recent poll.

Pete Guthrie, a member of Smith’s cabinet, spoke up in a document to his colleagues in the premier’s inner circle.

Folks say he did not leak the document but it still hit the streets late last week.

Guthrie is staying tight-lipped. He’s not offering up any nuggets for the newspaper.

But Guthrie never had much time for some of the goings-on in the UCP government led by former premier Jason Kenney.