Former Alberta Health Services board director Sandy Edmonstone alleges he has been harassed and intimidated because he pushed back on the government’s firing of AHS’s chief executive officer.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
A former director on the board of Alberta’s health authority alleges he was singled out in a campaign of harassment and intimidation because he pushed back against Premier Danielle Smith’s government and its decision to fire the agency’s chief executive officer.
In a recently unsealed affidavit, Sandy Edmonstone, who served on the board of Alberta Health Services until January of 2025, details how someone surveilled him and took surreptitious photos they threatened to distribute to his partner, as well as multiple reputational attacks he has faced online from David Wallace, who has described himself in the past as a political dirty tricks operator.
Mr. Edmonstone relied on the affidavit to obtain an extraordinary court order that authorized lawyers to seize electronic devices from Mr. Wallace and James Di Fiore, a podcaster who has featured Mr. Wallace on his show, to find out who is funding their activities. The searches were conducted in mid-December.
Mr. Edmonstone alleges that the podcasters’ commentary is designed to undermine him as a potential witness in the lawsuit former AHS chief executive Athana Mentzelopoulos filed against the health authority and the Alberta government.
In January, Ms. Mentzelopoulos was fired amid her investigation into improper procurement practices at AHS. She alleges that she was pressed to shut down the probe by Ms. Smith’s government and urged to proceed with deals with certain private companies. The government says it fired her for failing to execute its vision for health care in the province.
In the 20-page affidavit, Mr. Edmonstone states that other AHS directors supported Ms. Mentzelopoulos, but that he was “at the forefront” of the board’s actions. “I believe I may be the predominant target of these individuals as I openly challenged the Minister of Health” and her staff, Mr. Edmonstone said.
“My outspoken and direct manner of conducting myself while taking steps to protect and uphold good and proper governance on behalf of Albertans and their tax dollars has made me a target,” he also said in the affidavit.
The allegations have not been tested in court.
A spokeswoman for Adriana Lagrange said the then-health minister wouldn’t comment on the affidavit because the matter is before the courts.
Craig Alcock, a lawyer for Mr. Wallace and Mr. Di Fiore, did not respond to questions about the affidavit, but he previously told The Globe and Mail his clients look forward to responding in court.
The matter is scheduled to be heard at the Edmonton courthouse on Tuesday.
When asked last week about Mr. Edmonstone’s allegations, Ms. Smith said, “I know nothing about it. So that’ll be a question for the courts.”
After her firing, Ms. Mentzelopoulos was replaced by Andre Tremblay, who was then the deputy minister of health.
In her statement of claim, Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleged Mr. Tremblay had played a role in her dismissal, had put pressure on her to terminate purported critics of the government and had cancelled a scheduled meeting with the province’s Auditor-General.
Mr. Edmonstone’s affidavit reveals that the board took steps to limit Mr. Tremblay’s executive powers after his appointment because it was concerned he was in a position of conflict of interest. “I was the one who notified Mr. Tremblay that he was being recused of oversight and decision-making” when dealing with matters related to Ms. Mentzelopoulos, her lawsuit, the probes she initiated and interactions with the Auditor-General, the affidavit states.
Mr. Tremblay was also told he couldn’t deal with the termination or pay of employees who had been involved in those issues, the affidavit states. “Reprisal concerns arose due to senior AHS management and staff expressing concern about potential reprisal actions against them to independent members of the Board,” Mr. Edmonstone said.
On Jan. 31, Ms. Smith’s government dismissed the entire board and replaced it by a single administrator, Mr. Tremblay.
Mr. Tremblay, who has since taken a leave of absence from the health authority, could not be reached for comment.
In his affidavit, Mr. Edmonstone said he started being targeted days after media reported in June, 2025, that Ms. Mentzelopoulos intended to ask former AHS directors to testify in her lawsuit.
One acquaintance, former Alberta attorney-general Tyler Shandro, contacted him on June 15, saying that someone was sending him “crazy” text messages, his affidavit states.
Mr. Shandro received three photos showing Mr. Edmonstone having lunch with a woman in a restaurant. A text message accompanying the photos claimed that Mr. Edmonstone was unfaithful to his partner and threatened to expose him. “While this allegation is not true, it was unsettling to know that someone was targeting me and attempting to cause me personal strife,” Mr. Edmonstone said.
A month later, Mr. Edmonstone read an article about a covert surveillance operation that targeted Globe and Mail journalist Carrie Tait, who had been reporting on AHS. An anonymous X account, @thebrokedownab, had posted photos taken surreptitiously of Ms. Tait. “The described circumstances felt eerily like my own experiences,” Mr. Edmonstone said.
He said he had an acquaintance access the account recovery function for X. The acquaintance entered the account name @thebrokedownab, then the phone number that texted photos of Mr. Edmonstone. The X platform responded with a request for an associated e-mail address. If the account and the phone number weren’t connected, it would have resulted in an error message, the affidavit said, adding that Mr. Edmonstone had a video of his verification attempt.
By August, the affidavit said, Mr. Wallace repeatedly claimed that Mr. Edmonstone had an adulterous affair, and said he would dig further into the former board director’s life. “I can get a lot stiffer, Edmonstone, and I will. I will. Very soon,” Mr. Wallace said.
The sworn statement noted that Mr. Wallace boasted that he was working for unidentified employers.
“There appears to be a group of well-funded individuals and organizations that are implicated – or at least impacted – by the procurement issues Ms. Mentzelopoulos was investigating,” the Edmonstone affidavit says.
In November, Mr. Edmonstone turned to the judge presiding over Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s lawsuit, Justice Michael Lema of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta. He obtained from Justice Lema an injunction, known as an Anton Piller order, that authorized the searches of the homes of Mr. Wallace and Mr. Di Fiore.
During the hearing to obtain the Anton Piller order, Justice Lema said he initially had concerns that Mr. Edmonstone’s affidavit revealed inside business at AHS but he concluded that “I do not find it materially undercuts the case.”
Justice Lema ordered Mr. Wallace and Mr. Di Fiore to appear before him for potential contempt of court. The pair were also told by the court to refrain from making comments “that are harassing, defamatory, or intended to intimidate.”
On Dec. 29, Mr. Wallace posted a video where he said Mr. Edmonstone’s affidavit “contains an embarrassment of riches … He invited me right in the door. You invited the devil right into your home.”
The video was removed days later.