Smith says she learned of corruption allegations via media reports, not auditor general investigation

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she learned of allegations of government interference made by the fired head of Alberta Health Services (AHS) through media reports, and not through the notice of an auditor general’s investigation into the same claims delivered the week before the story became public.

Early Wednesday, Smith took questions from reporters regarding the allegations published earlier this month by the Globe and Mail for the first time at a gathering of provincial premiers in Washington, D.C. where she said she welcomed Wylie’s investigation.

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“I first became aware of it when I saw the newspaper reporting on it, and we’re interested in hearing what the auditor general has to say,” she said.

“If there’s wrongdoing, we’d like to get to the bottom of it, and if there isn’t, we need to find out why AHS is standing in the way of chartered surgical centres.”

On Feb. 5, The Globe and Mail published an article citing a letter from the lawyer of recently-sacked AHS president Athana Mentzelopoulos that alleged high-level interference — including from the premier’s then-chief of staff — in deals for health supplies and approval of contracts for chartered surgical facilities (CSF) that together amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following morning, Auditor General Doug Wylie’s office said his office had “recently commenced” a formal investigation into procurement and contracting processes at the Alberta Health and AHS around CSFs, medication, and COVID-19 Personal Protection Equipment.

On Wednesday, his office confirmed that the notice of the investigation was served to the parties on the morning of Jan. 31, five days before the Globe and Mail broke the story.

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Smith denies wrongdoing

In a statement, Smith’s office said she was unaware of the allegations until the Feb. 5 story, and added that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange had known of Mentzelopoulos’ concerns as far back as eight months earlier.

“Since then, the minister repeatedly asked the former CEO of AHS for documentation to substantiate the concerns that were raised, no substantive information and documentation were provided,” the statement from Smith’s office reads.

“That is why Minister LaGrange issued a directive in December to compel AHS to share all details related to CSF contracts and contracting with Alberta Health.”

In Washington, Smith echoed LaGrange’s statement when asked if the premier would have known about any wrongdoing by her chief of staff, as the report alleges.

“We’ve been asking for eight months for any, as I understand it from my health minister, for any indication of wrongdoing. We’ve not seen anything, so I think we have to see if there’s any wrongdoing first, and if there is, then we have to clean it up.”

She added she still had confidence in LaGrange as health minister.

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Mentzelopoulos is suing the provincial health authority for $1.7 million for improper dismissal and denies there were any requests for documentation.

‘A circus’

Opposition New Democrats on Wednesday called for the government to reconvene the legislature ahead of its planned return on Feb. 25.

Opposition deputy leader Rakhi Pancholi repeated her party’s call for a judicial-led public inquiry, and cited the inadequacy of the investigation into AHS announced by LaGrange a day earlier, which will be assisted by a third party but still controlled by the government.

“They cannot oversee an investigation into their own government’s conduct,” she said, echoing her party’s earlier demand for Smith and LaGrange as well as Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams to step aside until the review is complete.

“This is not what accountability looks like. This is a circus.”

mblack@postmedia.com

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