MHCare Medical Inc. was awarded more than $600-million by Alberta's health agency during the COVID-19 pandemic.PAUL SWANSON/The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail has been named a Michener Award finalist for its reporting on a health care procurement controversy that has roiled Alberta politics and sparked an RCMP investigation.
The annual award recognizes journalism that results in policy changes and has a significant impact on public life.
Carrie Tait, a Calgary-based reporter for The Globe, broke several stories about Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former head of Alberta’s health authority. Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleged she was fired by Premier Danielle Smith’s government after refusing to shut down an internal investigation into the health agency’s contracts with certain private companies.
The Globe’s Carrie Tait named journalist of the year by the National Newspaper Awards
A team of Globe reporters found that one of the owners of some of those companies, Edmonton businessman Sam Mraiche, had extensive ties to the Smith government and procurement officials in Alberta Health Services.
The team of reporters – including Ms. Tait, Tom Cardoso, Mark MacKinnon, Stephanie Chambers and Alanna Smith – revealed that Mr. Mraiche hosted a number of ministers, senior government staffers and Ms. Smith in his private suite during Edmonton Oilers games.
Mr. Mraiche’s company, MHCare Medical Inc., was awarded more than $600-million by the health agency during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a $70-million sole-sourced contract for children’s pain and fever medication, only a third of which was ever delivered.
Three days after The Globe published a wide-ranging report summing up its findings, the government announced it was ending contract negotiations with a private surgical company of which Mr. Mraiche was a part owner.
In March, the RCMP executed a search warrant at the Edmonton office of MHCare. Scott Hutchison, a lawyer for Mr. Mraiche, said at that time that his client and MHCare “have consistently maintained that they have not engaged in any improper conduct.”
First, there was Alberta’s health procurement controversy. Then the surveillance began
Other Michener finalists include CTV News, which was nominated for an investigation into men who shared intimate videos of their unsuspecting partners, revelations that led to more than 60 criminal charges involving at least 14 victims. La Presse was nominated for an investigation into a dangerous practice taking hold in the trucking industry, where companies were using a tax loophole to hire untrained drivers as subcontractors rather than employees.
Radio-Canada was recognized for an 18-month investigation that raised questions about for-profit clinics diagnosing patients with chronic Lyme disease, a condition that lacks clinical or scientific backing.
The Alberta health care procurement controversy, explained
Ontario-based publication The Trillium was nominated for its coverage of the province’s Skills Development Fund scandal, and stories that exposed connections between grant recipients and Premier Doug Ford’s government.
The Winnipeg Free Press is a finalist for reporting on the oversight of teachers in Manitoba. The newspaper’s coverage prompted resignations, new regulations, improvements to an online registry and the creation of an advisory committee to improve teacher oversight.
“These newsrooms exemplify the very best of Canadian journalism,” said Margo Goodhand, president of the Michener Awards Foundation. “Their work demonstrates the essential work of a free press in holding institutions accountable, amplifying under-reported issues, and safeguarding the public interest.”
The winner will be announced June 18 in Ottawa at Rideau Hall.