Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange continue to face scrutiny over the dismissal of the former head of Alberta Health Services (AHS), Athana Mentzelopoulos and allegations of wrongdoing and corruption in government procurement contracts.

Mentzelopolous is suing the provincial government for wrongful dismissal, alleging she was fired for looking into high-level political interference in contracts with private surgical companies.

AHS countered in its statement of defence by saying she was fired for “alarming” failure at her job.

1:48 AHS files statement of defense in CEO firing, allegations of corruption

On Friday, the Globe and Mail reported new allegations that the board of AHS was dissolved on the same day it was scheduled to hear from investigators looking into those allegations of improper activity in government business deals.

Global News has not been able to independently verify that report, and at a news conference in Calgary on Friday, LaGrange remained tight-lipped about the allegations.

“My response is the same response I gave earlier, which is the government of Alberta has put forward its statement of defence, and in this AHS, HR issue, we stand by that defense,” said LaGrange.

When pressed, LaGrange responded that “it’s all before the courts right now,” but she also added that “the investigations through the auditor general as well as former Judge Wyant have full control to look at whatever they want to look at within this whole procurement process,” added LaGrange.

View image in full screen

In late February, the controversy over the AHS procurement policies also prompted former Alberta Minister of Infrastructure, Peter Guthrie, to resign from cabinet.

Investigations are underway by the RCMP, Alberta’s Auditor General and Raymond E. Wyant, a former chief judge in the provincial court of Manitoba.

So far Premier Smith has rejected calls for a full public inquiry — something she did again on Friday.

“We had multiple different service providers with AHS, with multiple different staff members overseeing those contracts, making multiple different decisions with multiple different layers of approval.  If that isn’t sufficient, we need to know and we need to be able to get the answers and if there’s some changes that I’ll be able to make that judgment at that time,” said Smith.

1:39 Premier Danielle Smith asked about AHS developments

After Friday’s news conference, NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi renewed his party’s call for the health minister to be fired, calling LaGrange “the worst health minister in Alberta’s history.”

Nenshi also renewed his call for the premier to call a “fully independent, judicial-led public inquiry.”

The allegations of political interference “are so deep that this scandal cannot be battered down with a phony investigation run out of the premier’s office,” said Nenshi, who added, “Why are they so scared?”

View image in full screen

Mount Royal University political analyst Lori Williams said the premier and health minister’s refusal to answer questions about the firing of the AHS Board raises questions.

“Adriana LaGrange said she couldn’t comment on it, but the firing of the board is not the subject of the lawsuit, its not mentioned in the lawsuit,” said Williams.

“So the failure to answer questions — really disturbing questions that have been raised by this — looks evasive.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "So the failure to answer questions — really disturbing questions that have been raised by this — looks evasive."

“The difference between the investigations that are underway at this point and a public inquiry is that a public inquiry has the power to compel witnesses and evidence to be produced, and of course because it’s public and it reports it’s completely beyond the reach of the government,” added Williams.

“We have a judge that’s been appointed to look at it, but again that appointment is made by the government of Alberta,” said Williams.

“It’s not clear that that judge has the power to compel evidence or witnesses, or that the government is at sufficient distance or independence from the government to freely report on their findings.”

Williams said the key issue in this dispute is whether taxpayer dollars were being spent to pay higher prices on health equipment or services for friends of the government.

None of the allegations in the lawsuit filed by Mentzelopoulos, nor in the statement of defence by AHS have been proven in court.