Premier Smith issues statement in response to allegations regarding AHS. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Spencer Colby

By Jayk Sterkenburg

PROVINCE

‘I was not involved in any wrongdoing’, says Alberta Premier in response to AHS allegations

Feb 8, 2025 | 2:45 PM

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith issued a statement in response to allegations around Alberta Health Services procurement and contracting processes.

“They are troubling allegations and they should be reviewed as quickly as possible,” she said in a statement Saturday.

On Thursday, Health Sciences Association of Alberta called for an immediate investigation into Alberta’s for-profit surgical contracts.

This was due to a report from The Globe and Mail revealing serious allegations of political interference in the obtaining of health care.

The report claims that the government fired former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos after she launched an internal investigation into questionable contracts.

These were awarded under the Alberta Surgical Initiative to for-profit surgical operators with connections to government officials.

HSAA said that AHS, under Mentzelopoulos direction, was investigating how contracts were awarded to for-profit surgical facilities, including Alberta Surgical Group and health care suppliers like MHCare.

Mentzelopoulos was scheduled to take her concerns to the Auditor General on Jan. 10, but was fired on Jan. 8.

After reportedly recommending that Mentzelopoulos take her findings to the RCMP, the AHS Board of Directors was dismissed on Jan. 31.

READ MORE: ‘Revolving door of leadership’, says advocate on Alberta Health Services’ board dismissal

The Auditor General of Alberta has launched a probe into how AHS and Alberta Health awarded private contracts for surgical facilities and medical supplies.

Smith said that she will be contacting Auditor General Doug Wylie to ask for an expedited review and his findings on this issue.

“I have also directed my officials to ensure that any request for information from Mr. Wylie or his office is dealt with on a fully transparent and expedited basis,” she said.

“We need to get to the bottom of this issue quickly to identify any potential wrongdoing, correct it, and address it appropriately.”

Smith also asked that AHS’s internal review be completed as quickly as possible and delivered directly to her, so results can be studied and improvements or adjustments are made to the processes.

She said that until the findings are delivered, AHS has paused the contracting for the surgical facilities under review.

“As Premier, I was not involved in any wrongdoing. Any insinuation to the contrary is false, baseless and defamatory,” she said.

Smith said that it is no secret that she has been “unhappy with the level and quality of service delivered by AHS”, and in the inability of AHS to deliver quality and timely healthcare to Albertans.

She said that she will continue to relentlessly push forward to make improvements.

“Although that has required difficult decisions and major change, I do not accept the current results,” she said.

“There is a widespread and deep-seated resistance to change that we must overcome,” she added.

“That’s my goal: better healthcare for all.”