UCP under fire over ousted Alberta Health Services CEO

By Lethbridge Herald on February 7, 2025.

Alexandra Noad – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Allegations are swirling against the Alberta government, saying  after a Globe and Mail story this week claimed that the former CEO of Alberta Health Services was set to meet with the province’s auditor-general when she was fired last month.

A letter obtained by the Globe and Mail, addressed to Athana Mentzelopoulos’ lawyers, alleges that Mentzelopoulos was fired because she launched an internal investigation into procurement contracts and deals for the private surgical facilities.

Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, says the allegations are shocking and Albertans need honest answers as to what actually happened.

“There needs to be an immediate investigation,” says Gallaway. “Albertans deserve to know what happened, which means the auditor-general should prioritize this investigation (and) they shouldn’t be impeded in any way by the government or the need for documents or to talk to folks.”

NDP leader Naheed Nenshi reacted to the allegations in a press conference available on his YouTube channel, saying “these are amongst the most shocking allegations” he has ever seen.

Nenshi said Christina Gray, leader of the opposition party in the Legislature, will be demanding three investigations from the RCMP, the auditor-general and the ethics commissioner.

Gallaway says Friends of Medicare was already concerned about the lack of accountability with the firing of another AHS board, but these allegations suggest there was some motivation to cover things up.

“We were concerned that (putting Deputy Minister Andre Tremblay fully in charge) lacked accountability and democracy, and now it appears they may have been doing it for even worse reasons, trying to cover what was happening to prevent things from becoming public.”

Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta (HSAA), says it’s costing Albertans millions of their tax dollars to pay out top officials.

“We’re replacing CEOs every year with a buyout package of hundreds of thousands, to the point of millions of dollars,” says Parker. “None of that serves the front lines of health care, it sacrifices them.

“If these allegations are true, then there is direct government interference to a for profit model that harms Albertans and harms the 30,000 members of HSAA on the front lines.”

Gallaway says several reports show that the government’s plan to move to for-profit surgeries isn’t creating more capacity for surgeries, its doing the opposite.

“There’s been report after report that have shown that agenda is failing, it’s not creating more capacity for surgeries,” says Gallaway. “We’ve actually got fewer surgeries done in our public hospitals because they’ve done these contracts, wait lists haven’t shrink in spite of the government claims (that) they would because of these contracts.”

Gallaway adds he hopes an investigation is done for these allegations, because Albertans deserve transparency as to what the government is doing.

“There’s a lot of accountability and transparency that hasn’t been happening in terms of the Alberta Surgical Initiative and hopefully this is an opportunity to expose some of that and actually give Albertans real information about what’s been happening, but also look into these serious allegations, because if some of what is being alleged is true, it’s very concerning and needs to be investigated.”

He adds he believes any investigation needs to be turned over to the RCMP, and if there was interference in a procurement process for contracts worth millions of dollars, Albertans have the right to know about it.

Parker says Albertans need the auditor-general review because if the allegations are proved true, it will harm all Albertans.

“From what I see, if it’s legit, we need that auditor-general independent review of what’s going on here, because what’s happening is harming people,” says Parker. 

“It’s actually causing harm, whether it’s in addictions, and mental health care, seniors care or long-term care, the list goes on and on and we’re still waiting to hear what acute care is going to look like or who it includes. But what we do know is it’s all being smashed to pieces and nobody has a clear path or a compass to figure it out.”

Nenshi said he believes “the premier, the minister of health and the minister of mental health and addiction and all named employees in the allegations must step aside, they cannot operate in (their roles) while they are under the shadow of potential RCMP criminal investigation, until (the investigation) is done”

Parker says thousands of frontline health-care workers received a “slap in the face” from the Globe and Mail headline.

“The government has chosen to break off any respectful bargaining that would have given (health-care workers) a respectful wage, that would have worked at retention, that would have recruited more people, because (the government is) too busy selling off our health-care system to the highest bidder.”

Auditor-General Doug Wylie said in a release to media that he recently commenced an examination of the procurement and contracting processes at the Department of Health and Alberta Health Services.

“At this time the examination pertains to Chartered Surgical Facilities, medication (ibuprofen or acetaminophen) and COVID-19 personal protection equipment (PPE.)

He added the examination may extend to other organizations, if necessary and results of the work will be available to all Albertans when the report(s) are tabled in the Legislative Assembly.