Alberta Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie has resigned from his place, citing a insecurity within the authorities’s procurement practices.
Peter Guthrie, the United Conservative Occasion MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, posted his letter of resignation from cupboard to X, previously Twitter, on Tuesday morning.
“In current months, I’ve voiced considerations concerning the Authorities of Alberta’s procurement practices throughout all departments,” Guthrie wrote.
“As Minister of Infrastructure, I had line of sight into these processes and took steps to deal with inconsistencies and suggest enhancements as a part of my fiduciary responsibility.
“This included introducing Invoice 13 and proposing a Monetary Oversight Committee to evaluate and advise on main authorities contracts.”
If handed, Invoice 13, the Actual Property Governance Act, would require provincial companies, boards and commissions to provide the province first proper of refusal once they’re promoting surplus land and buildings.
The proposed change impacts Alberta’s post-secondary establishments, college jurisdictions and constitution colleges, Alberta Well being Providers and quite a few authorities organizations, together with the Alberta Social Housing Company.
“If carried out, such a committee may have been instrumental in stopping among the points we aren’t seeing in Alberta Well being and AHS. Sadly, the vast majority of Cupboard doesn’t seem to share my considerations,” Guthrie stated.
“Because of this, I’ve determined to step down and return to caucus as a non-public member, the place I can proceed to voice my considerations and maintain Cupboard accountable with honesty and integrity.”
Earlier this month, Guthrie urged Premier Danielle Smith to take away Well being Minister Adriana LaGrange from her put up whereas investigations proceed into severe allegations a fired Alberta Well being Providers CEO has made about main well being contracts.
In a memo despatched to his cupboard colleagues, Guthrie urged fast motion, and a readiness at hand any potential felony issues to the RCMP.
Alberta’s NDP Opposition on Tuesday repeated its requires the federal government to name a judge-led public inquiry, and for the well being minister to step down.
NDP Home chief Christina Grey stated the Opposition plans to name for an emergency debate within the legislature Tuesday afternoon, a measure that requires the consent of each MLA.
“We will probably be asking each minister in regards to the allegations,” Grey stated. “We will probably be leaving no stone unturned as a result of Albertans deserve solutions.”
Former AHS govt Athana Mentzelopoulos has alleged that the federal government pushed her out of her prime job after she launched investigations into what she describes as conflicts of curiosity and questionable prices of AHS offers with personal surgical services, in addition to MHCare Medical, the medical provider behind the $70-million buy of kids’s ache medication from Turkey.
These claims reached the court docket final week, when Mentzelopoulos filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit towards the federal government and AHS. The claims within the lawsuit haven’t been examined in court docket.
CBC Information has reached out to Smith and Guthrie for remark.
The Globe and Mail final week reported that Sam Mraiche, the proprietor of MHCare, additionally has stakes in two personal surgical services that have been beneath scrutiny by Mentzelopoulos’s inside investigation.
Mraiche was linked to Guthrie’s division by The Tyee final week when it reported that in 2023, Mraiche bought a parcel of land and offered it a couple of months later to the federal government, by means of Alberta Infrastructure, for a revenue of $300,000.
On Feb. 6, Alberta Auditor Basic Doug Wylie launched an investigation into procurement and contracting processes inside the province’s well being authority to deal with “considerations or allegations associated to contracting and potential conflicts of curiosity.”
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