Alberta Premier Danielle Smith provides an update in Calgary, on Feb. 19.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alberta’s Addictions Minister Dan Williams said he was aware of allegations that public funds were being “misused” in procurement processes at the provincial health authority and ordered his staff to investigate before taking his concerns to the Health Minister.
Mr. Williams, on Monday, did not say who alerted him to the “rumours” but said he “did what every minister would do” and asked his deputy minister, Evan Romanow, to find out more information, including whether there were any ties to his ministry. He said Mr. Romanow spoke with the then-chief executive of Alberta Health Services, Athana Mentzelopoulos, during this process.
The Alberta government is currently facing allegations, contained in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s wrongful dismissal lawsuit, that government officials interfered in the health authority’s contracting and procurement process on behalf of private companies. Ms. Mentzelopoulos said, in her statement of claim, that she was concerned about how Mr. Williams became aware of the internal investigation she was conducting into the matter.
Mr. Williams said: “The reason I spoke to my deputy minister was concern. I disagree with any kind of abuse of funds. If there are things that are untoward, I want them to be transparently uncovered.” He was speaking at an unrelated news conference.
“The reply that I got back from the deputy minister was there’s no substantive evidence linking anything to Recovery Alberta, to my ministry or the operations of my ministry,” he added.
Mr. Williams said he then shared his concerns with Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, who is named in the lawsuit. He did not provide details on when that conversation took place.
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Premier Danielle Smith initially told media she first became aware of the allegations on Feb. 5 after The Globe and Mail published the details of a letter from Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s lawyer to AHS sent last month. Ms. Smith later said that she was told by Ms. LaGrange “some time in the fall” that she was looking into issues regarding pricing differences for surgical procedures.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleges she was urged to sign deals, particularly for private surgical facilities, with higher fees compared with other recent agreements. She also alleged that Mr. Williams was “apparently concerned” that her probe would lead to potential connections between various government officials, in addition to Sam Mraiche, the owner of MHCare Medical, the Edmonton-based company that facilitated Alberta’s unfulfilled $70-million deal for children’s pain medication.
None of the allegations have been tested in court. Ms. Mentzelopoulos was terminated on Jan. 8 and she is now suing for $1.7-million, what she alleges she would have been paid had she been able to serve the remaining three years on her four-year contract.
Ms. LaGrange has said she intends to file a statement of defence. The Premier has said she was not involved in any wrongdoing.
Jessie Bakker, a lawyer representing Mr. Mraiche and MHCare, said in a statement last week that her clients “have no comment other than to state that any allegations or insinuations of wrongdoing on the part of MHCare Medical Corporation and/or Sam Mraiche are unwarranted and unjustified.”
Auditor-General Doug Wylie is now examining contracting and procurement practices at AHS and the health ministry. AHS has also said it is conducting a review, which the government said will be done by an external party. The government has not committed to reviewing the health ministry’s practices.
The questions around Mr. Mraiche’s connections to the government extended into Alberta’s infrastructure department last week. The Tyee revealed the businessman purchased a piece of land in the spring of 2023 and sold it to government, through Infrastructure, a few months later for a profit of $300,000.
Benji Smith, press secretary for Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie, told The Globe in a statement that the minister was unaware of the deal until a freedom of information request landed in his office Feb. 18.
Mr. Guthrie then flagged the deal for the Auditor-General and ordered his staff to investigate all transactions in his ministry in the last two years and flag any abnormalities for the Auditor-General, according to the statement.
Ms. Smith, at the news conference on Monday, said she will not direct other members of her cabinet to identify if there are any ties to Mr. Mraiche or his associates within their ministries.
“We’re not doing a witch hunt to try to find every single transaction that every single business has done if there is no reason to look into it,” she said. Ms. Smith added that she intends to follow the lead of the Auditor-General and if “anything comes up” with his investigation then she will consider a broader audit like what Mr. Guthrie is doing.
The Globe reported on Friday that Mr. Mraiche owns a stake in two private surgical facilities that last year were negotiating contracts with AHS. Some of the fees on the negotiating table were more than double what a private competitor in Calgary was being paid and AHS’s internal costs for the same procedures, according to documents obtained by The Globe.
The Globe also previously reported that Mr. Mraiche and MHCare treated cabinet ministers and members of Ms. Smith’s staff to luxury hockey tickets to Edmonton Oilers’ games.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleges in court records that she investigated contracts and procurement for chartered surgical facilities and AHS’s contracts with MHCare and companies affiliated with Mr. Mraiche. She alleges AHS had paid MHCare and other companies with ties to Mr. Mraiche $614-million for supplies and services.