An Alberta Health Services ambulance is shown in Edmonton on Feb. 28, 2014.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
Alberta’s Health Minister, in a document filed in court, says the former chief executive of the provincial health authority was dismissed because she failed to fulfill her duties and was “obsessed and infatuated” with suspicions of impropriety by government officials in health contracts.
The 23-page statement of defence was filed Thursday in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta in Edmonton on behalf of Alberta Health Services and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange. The statement disputed the allegations contained in former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos’s wrongful dismissal suit, which was filed last month.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleges that high-ranking government officials interfered in procurement and contracting practices at AHS on behalf of private companies.
Athana Mentzelopoulos
She was terminated on Jan. 8 because she did not advance the United Conservative government’s plan to divide AHS into four separate organizations and had lost the confidence of Ms. LaGrange and her employer, according to the counterstatement.
“The contractual termination pay she bargained for – $583,443 – was not enough, so she has presented a dramatic tale and false narrative of political persecution presumably to try and pressure AHS to offer more than she is contractually entitled to and deflect attention away from her own inadequate performance while on the job,” the government alleges.
The contracting and procurement affair has dogged the United Conservative government for weeks, after The Globe and Mail first reported Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s allegations on Feb. 5. The RCMP, Auditor-General and a former judge, tapped by the government, are now investigating the matter. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos, who is seeking $1.7-million in damages for breach of contract, had completed only one year of her four-year contract at the time of her termination. She said, in her statement of claim, that she was fired because of her investigations into procurement contracts and inflated deals for private surgical facilities by AHS and the Ministry of Health.
But the defendants argue otherwise: “The Plaintiff was not fired by AHS because she commenced an investigation. She was not fired as part of a conspiracy to stop an investigation. She was fired because she failed to perform her role.”
The former chief executive, in a statement earlier on Thursday, said Premier Danielle Smith and Ms. LaGrange are trying to “deflect from the truth” by attacking her character. She said she expected the statement of defence would inflict further harm to her reputation and wanted to proceed directly to trial.
“I am worried there’s a strategy to try to bring me to my knees financially,” Ms. Mentzelopoulos said.
The government has argued in recent weeks that Ms. Mentzelopoulos failed to provide adequate proof to back up her concerns; the statement of defence reiterated this rationale. The province has also said that her dismissal was planned as part of its work to restructure AHS.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos has alleged conflicts of interest in Alberta’s $70-million deal for children’s pain relief medications from Turkey, in addition to government pressure in negotiations for chartered surgical facilities (CSFs), which are private outfits that perform operations paid for by the government as part of the public health care system.
The Globe previously reported that Ms. LaGrange issued a directive last October that stripped AHS of its power to negotiate contracts for private surgical facilities.
The province argues that Ms. LaGrange issued a series of directives to advance the winding up of AHS as part of its restructuring strategy.
“None of the directives were issues ‘against’ the Plaintiff,” according to the statement of defence. It said the October directive was to ensure CSFs “were strategically and operationally aligned with the objectives of the Health System Refocus without any disruption to continuity of care, clinical operations, or the patient experience.”
Ms. Mentzelopoulos said she kept government officials, including Ms. LaGrange, informed of her investigations and trusted that they would support her work. She said one of the complications was that the contracts being reviewed involved those undertaken at the direction of government.
“Some staff who administered these contracts would have had no choice but to follow through on those orders. I have come to understand their quandary – do what this government says or be fired, and if there are problems later with having unquestioningly executed this government’s direction, you will be held entirely accountable,” she said in a statement on Thursday.
Ms. LaGrange and Ms. Smith have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The pair have asserted that AHS is solely responsible for procurement decisions, so any impropriety is a result of its actions. Their offices declined to comment, pointing to the statement of defence for the government’s position.
Justice Minister Mickey Amery, in a statement, said no further comments would be made as the matter is before the courts. “We will resolutely defend against the unproven allegations raised in this matter,” he said. The province is asking for the lawsuit to be dismissed and for the plaintiff to pay costs.
Ms. Mentzelopoulos has said she was set to meet with the Auditor-General to discuss her investigation into procurement and contracting on Jan. 10 but was dismissed two days prior. The province argues that the meeting had not been disclosed prior to her termination.
Dan Scott, who represents Ms. Mentzelopoulos, said in a statement that the province’s allegations against his client are “absolutely false” and intends to file a formal reply. He said Ms. Mentzelopoulos “will be very comfortable proceeding to trial on an expedited basis – should the Province have the courage to do so.”