Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Well being Minister Adriana LaGrange proceed to face scrutiny over the dismissal of the previous head of Alberta Health Services (AHS), Athana Mentzelopoulos and allegations of wrongdoing and corruption in authorities procurement contracts.
Mentzelopolous is suing the provincial government for wrongful dismissal, alleging she was fired for trying into high-level political interference in contracts with non-public surgical corporations.
AHS countered in its statement of defence by saying she was fired for “alarming” failure at her job.
On Friday, the Globe and Mail reported new allegations that the board of AHS was dissolved on the identical day it was scheduled to listen to from investigators trying into these allegations of improper exercise in authorities enterprise offers.
World Information has not been in a position to independently confirm that report, and at a information convention in Calgary on Friday, LaGrange remained tight-lipped concerning the allegations.
“My response is identical response I gave earlier, which is the federal government of Alberta has put ahead its assertion of defence, and on this AHS, HR difficulty, we stand by that protection,” mentioned LaGrange.
When pressed, LaGrange responded that “it’s all earlier than the courts proper now,” however she additionally added that “the investigations by way of the auditor basic in addition to former Decide Wyant have full management to have a look at no matter they wish to have a look at inside this complete procurement course of,” added LaGrange.
Alberta Well being Minister Adriana LaGrange refused to reply questions on new allegations within the AHS procurement scandal on Friday, claiming the difficulty is “all earlier than the courts.”
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In late February, the controversy over the AHS procurement insurance policies additionally prompted former Alberta Minister of Infrastructure, Peter Guthrie, to resign from cabinet.
Investigations are underway by the RCMP, Alberta’s Auditor Basic and Raymond E. Wyant, a former chief decide within the provincial court docket of Manitoba.
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To date Premier Smith has rejected requires a full public inquiry — one thing she did once more on Friday.
“We had a number of completely different service suppliers with AHS, with a number of completely different employees members overseeing these contracts, making a number of completely different choices with a number of completely different layers of approval. If that isn’t ample, we have to know and we want to have the ability to get the solutions and if there’s some adjustments that I’ll have the ability to make that judgment at the moment,” mentioned Smith.
After Friday’s information convention, NDP Chief Naheed Nenshi renewed his celebration’s name for the well being minister to be fired, calling LaGrange “the worst well being minister in Alberta’s historical past.”
Nenshi additionally renewed his name for the premier to name a “absolutely unbiased, judicial-led public inquiry.”
The allegations of political interference “are so deep that this scandal can’t be battered down with a phony investigation run out of the premier’s workplace,” mentioned Nenshi, who added, “Why are they so scared?”
Alberta NDP Chief Naheed Nenshi on Friday renewed his name for a full judicial inquiry into the AHS procurement scandal.
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Mount Royal College political analyst Lori Williams mentioned the premier and well being minister’s refusal to reply questions concerning the firing of the AHS Board raises questions.
“Adriana LaGrange mentioned she couldn’t touch upon it, however the firing of the board shouldn’t be the topic of the lawsuit, its not talked about within the lawsuit,” mentioned Williams.
“So the failure to reply questions — actually disturbing questions which were raised by this — seems to be evasive.”
“The distinction between the investigations which can be underway at this level and a public inquiry is {that a} public inquiry has the ability to compel witnesses and proof to be produced, and naturally as a result of it’s public and it reviews it’s utterly past the attain of the federal government,” added Williams.
“Now we have a decide that’s been appointed to have a look at it, however once more that appointment is made by the federal government of Alberta,” mentioned Williams.
“It’s not clear that that decide has the ability to compel proof or witnesses, or that the federal government is at ample distance or independence from the federal government to freely report on their findings.”
Williams mentioned the important thing difficulty on this dispute is whether or not taxpayer {dollars} have been being spent to pay larger costs on well being tools or providers for mates of the federal government.
Not one of the allegations within the lawsuit filed by Mentzelopoulos, nor within the assertion of defence by AHS have been confirmed in court docket.
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