‘CorruptCare Scandal’: Smith Thumped in Legislature

For the past three weeks, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been treading water, trying desperately to keep her head above the tide of scandalous allegations threatening to sink her government.

Offering reassurances and using misdirection, she has attempted to cobble together a PFD (political flotation device) to keep afloat — but on Tuesday morning, one of her cabinet members tossed to her the political equivalent of a great big iron anchor.

Peter Guthrie abruptly quit his position as infrastructure minister, saying he disagrees with how the government is handling allegations of wrongdoing raised by the recently fired CEO of Alberta Health Services, Athana Mentzelopoulos.

“For this reason, I have decided to step down and return to caucus as a private member, where I can continue to voice my concerns and hold Cabinet accountable with honesty and integrity,” Guthrie explained in his resignation letter, casting shade on his colleagues, while being more blunt with the Globe and Mail: “I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that.”

Guthrie first raised concerns two weeks ago when he sent a memo to cabinet colleagues saying the premier should move Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to a different portfolio while the allegations are investigated. Instead, Smith said she stands by LaGrange.

A disgruntled Guthrie, perhaps aiming for maximum political damage, announced his resignation just hours before MLAs gathered for the first day of the Alberta legislative spring sitting.

The timing was such a gift to the Opposition NDP they should be sending him a bouquet of flowers and a thank-you card. The New Democrats then used every one of their questions during question period to grill the premier and Health Minister LaGrange over the controversy the Opposition has gleefully dubbed the “CorruptCare scandal.”

“The premier’s words on this do not make sense,” said NDP house leader Christina Gray in a verbal tug of war in which Smith would not tell Gray when she first learned of the allegations. “The premier would have known about the CorruptCare scandal because her former chief of staff is at the heart of the allegations.”

In response, Smith did what she has done for the past three weeks: ignore the meat of the allegations, deflect the questions by saying she simply wants to make sure Albertans get better health care, and suggest the uproar is simply the result of “resistance” by Alberta Health Services management fighting against health-care restructuring.

What Smith conveniently neglects to mention is that Mentzelopoulos, a well-respected senior civil servant in both British Columbia and Alberta, was recruited by the Smith government in 2023 to become the CEO of AHS and help with restructuring as part of a four-year contract.

She was fired last month after a little more than a year in the job. Mentzelopoulos says she was sacked because she had launched an internal investigation into whether government officials had interfered with health-care contract procurements to favour certain private companies.

She has filed a $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit. The allegations have not been tested in court. Smith and LaGrange have denied any wrongdoing. LaGrange says she will be filing a statement of defence to the lawsuit in the coming days.

It’s worth noting that Guthrie was the subject of a Tyee story last week that revealed his department had authorized the purchase of a private building that netted the owner a $300,000 profit in the space of three months. The owner happens to be one of the people named in Mentzelopoulos’s allegations.

Guthrie told The Tyee he learned of the land transaction only a week ago and said that “out of an abundance of caution” he directed his department to “launch an independent audit of this transaction to ensure all procedures were appropriately followed, and also notified the Auditor General should his office be interested in reviewing it as well.”

Guthrie, by the way, was not in the assembly Tuesday but his seat wasn’t empty. Agriculture Minister RJ Sigurdson vacated his second-row seat to sit in Guthrie’s front-row perch. If nothing else, it meant the media could not say Guthrie’s seat was “empty.” But in all important respects it was.

There was an odd tone to question period not only because the NDP relentlessly hammered the government on one topic but because the government benches were unusually quiet. A little desk thumping maybe but virtually no heckling. They looked more like sad puppies than the usual attack dogs.

Earlier, as cabinet ministers headed into the assembly, several refused to speak to reporters. Those that did offered little in the way of comment. Finance Minister Nate Horner said he takes the allegations seriously but “at this point, they are allegations.” Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver dismissed the seriousness of Guthrie’s resignation, saying “people quit their jobs every day.”

Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon pointed out the cabinet had a “great meeting this morning” and added, “I don’t feel any concern about the unity of either caucus or cabinet.”

But Energy Minister Brian Jean refused to say if he thinks Guthrie should be allowed to stay in the United Conservative Party caucus: “I’ll keep that to myself.”

Smith says the government will be hiring a “highly credible third party with a strong legal background” to independently investigate the allegations. But the NDP and other critics are demanding Smith launch a public inquiry.

The government will be hoping to change the channel on Thursday with the release of the provincial budget that just might include a long-awaited income tax break for Albertans.

But “CorruptCare” has pretty much stolen the limelight, and thanks to the usual critics like the NDP and a surprise appearance by a cabinet minister, it is proving a difficult story to quash.