Wednesday’s letters: Transparency a must in corruption probe

The allegations surrounding Alberta Health Services (AHS) contracts aren’t just troubling — they’re shocking. Reports that former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos was pressured by UCP officials to sign off on private surgical facility contracts, only to be fired days before meeting with the auditor general, stink of corruption. Her lawyer’s letter paints a damning picture: inflated contracts, conflicts of interest, and a government more interested in protecting itself than serving Albertans. If even half of this is true, it’s a slap in the face to every taxpayer in this province.

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Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s dismissive response — calling this a “planned transition”— is insulting. Premier Danielle Smith’s call for an expedited auditor general review feels like a half-hearted attempt to quiet the outrage. Let’s be clear: This isn’t just about procurement processes. This is about accountability, transparency, and whether our government is working for us or for itself.

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The auditor general’s investigation is a start, but it’s not enough. The NDP’s demand for an RCMP investigation, a judicial inquiry, and full transparency isn’t just reasonable — it’s necessary. If this government has nothing to hide, it should welcome full transparency. Anything less is a betrayal.

Jason Cook, Edmonton

Council wants to dictate our lives

When are all Edmontonians going to wake up and see the city council for what it is and has been doing? Getting rally permits is absolutely disturbing and uncalled for. However, this has been the mentality of our city council in all of the decisions they’ve made throughout the last three-and-a-half years.

I keep hearing over and over how a dictator was elected in the U.S., but look in our own backyards; this council has dictated how we are to live and do in so many of their disturbing bylaws they’ve passed. They’ve never listened to Edmontonians and chosen to do as they want rather than put major issues to a plebiscite. October cannot come soon enough and at least they are still letting us vote.

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J.T. Syrnyk, Edmonton

It took Trump to unite Canada

Now, our natural resources minister thinks it may be a good idea to start a west-to-east pipeline, and Quebec is also suggesting this might be a good idea. This was suggested several years ago but Trudeau didn’t support the idea as Quebec didn’t support the idea. And without Quebec’s support, he doesn’t get re-elected. So much for what is best for all of Canada.

We could have made billions in revenues selling our natural gas to Japan and Germany. Trudeau didn’t want to do that because he didn’t want to seem hypocritical, considering our climate-change policies. Billions lost and potential trade partners in the future. We now know who just made a multibillion-dollar natural gas contract with Japan. So now here we are talking about buying all Canadian goods, because this is better for all Canadians. Ten years later Trudeau’s gone and Quebec thinks having a pipeline out east would be good.

Why did it take a federally convicted president to meld us together as Canadians?

Warren Aird, Edmonton

Letters welcome

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