New CEO appointed for AHS
By Lethbridge Herald on January 9, 2025.
For the fourth time in four years, a new CEO has been appointed to the head of Alberta Health Services.
The Alberta government announced Wednesday that Andre Tremblay, deputy minister of Alberta Health, will take over duties as interim CEO, replacing Athana Mentzelopoulos just 13 months after she was appointed. Meanwhile, Dr. Chris Eagle, himself a former CEO of AHS, was named the new chair and interim president and CEO of acute Care Alberta. He’ll take over the position on Feb. 1, coinciding with the official establishment of ACA as a legal entity.
“I want to extend my sincerest gratitude to Athana Mentzelopoulos for the work she has done during her time leading Alberta Health Services,” Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said in the release.
The move was touted as a means of “bringing in the expertise and experience needed to continue refocusing the health care system for the benefit of all Albertans.”
In a release to media, the government said it was committed to refocusing the province’s health-care system to give Albertans better access to the services they need, when and where they need them.
Acute Care Alberta, the new acute care provincial health agency, includes hospitals, emergency services and surgery care. Government says Ii will work to speed up access to high-quality care, reduce wait times and make sure the patient’s journey through the system is efficient and effective across the province.
“I am excited to take on this role and support the efforts to refocus Alberta’s health care system and to create an improved acute care system that will make sure Albertans have access to the best health care services they need, no matter where they live in the province,” Eagle said in the release.
Eagle’s focus will be on preparing the organization for its first day of operations later this spring. His appointment to the position is pending finalization of his contract. He has significant experience supporting and leading health care organizations and projects across Alberta, including his time as president and CEO of AHS from 2010 to 2013.
Tremblay’s task will be to support Eagle’s work and to lead AHS through its transition from a regional health authority to a hospital-based service provider, said the release. He has served in several senior leadership positions over the past 20 years, including as deputy minister at Education, Agriculture and Forestry, and Transportation. This is also his second leadership role at Alberta Health, having previously served as an associate deputy minister. He was also previously appointed as the deputy clerk of executive council and deputy secretary to cabinet. In his role as interim president and CEO, Tremblay will not receive a salary. His salary as deputy minister will remain the same. He will continue his duties as deputy minister while the AHS board of directors selects the permanent president and CEO.
“We are at a critical time in the work that is underway to refocus the health care system,” AHS board chair Angela Fong said in the release. “I am confident we can continue to make great strides to achieve the goal of making health care better for everyone in Alberta. “
While in the interim role, Tremblay will work with AHS leadership to oversee operations, support staff transitions to Primary Care Alberta and establish Acute Care Alberta as a legal entity ahead of its operationalization this spring. Throughout this work, Albertans will continue to access acute care services as they always have and there will be no impact to front-line health care workers.
“We have made great progress refocusing the health care system,” said Tremblay. ‘And I am eager to take on this new role and support the work being done to improve health care across the province. I look forward to leading AHS as it transitions to a service delivery provider and engaging with front-line workers and staff across the system in the coming months.”
Alberta’s Opposition leader isn’t nearly as optimistic about the changes, however. He said the move was a sign of instability in the UCP government’s plans for health care.
“It may be a new year, but the UCP is still following their old playbook: undermining public health care and creating chaos for patients and staff,” Naheed Nenshi said in response to the announcement. “Danielle Smith and Adriana LaGrange keep attacking acute care by firing CEOs and appointing more insiders instead of fixing the very real problems Albertans are facing. Emergency rooms across the province are closing and nearly a million Albertans don’t have a family doctor.”
The revolving door of AHS leadership is proof of that, he added, which has negative impact on services for Albertans.
 “This is now the fourth CEO and the fourth board chair the UCP has gone through since 2021. Alberta now has six health care organizations, each with their own management layer, and the UCP still cannot get it right. Their incompetence is putting patients at risk. “
In addition, Nenshi accused Smith of taking exponentially longer to address health care issues than she claimed she would.
 “Danielle Smith promised to fix healthcare in 90 days,” he said. “That was 810 days ago and all we’ve seen is a system on the verge of collapse, more new managers for them to blame, and worse patient outcomes. Albertans deserve better than this make-it-up-as-we-go-along chaos.Smith and LaGrange keep looking for people to blame for this disaster. Time for them to look in the mirror.”
19-18
The UCP continue to hire and fire people to run their failing programs. Not only is their mismanagement costing tax payers millions of dollars but the signing bonuses and severance packages only benefit those employees and not the programs. Maybe this is a subtle way of rewarding their supporters.
the lady they just replaced, Athana Mentzelopoulos, came with a sordid background. just how this type gets high paying and important positions by govts is beyond acceptable.
first, there is this: Because Mentzelopoulos started work on Dec. 7, 2023, as long as she wasn’t fired for just cause, according to her contract she’s now owed her entire base salary of $583,443 for 2025. https://thetyee.ca/News/2025/01/09/Alberta-Health-Services-CEO-Out/
and this, which highlights a major issue with govt sleaze: AND, NOTE HOW THE REPUGNANT CHRISTY CLARK is bc premier at the time (how does that thing feel good enough to consider running for pm?! already caught in a what seems a lie, saying she was not a registered conservative during a cbc interview, when she voted for charest when he ran for federal conservative party leader)
“Last July, whistleblower Alana James made a startling claim in an interview with the Vancouver Sun about allegations of corruption leveled at the B.C. Ministry of Health: “This was not about one ministry and less than a dozen individuals.”
“This was systemic throughout government and public agencies and involved many people, some of them high up and in charge of making the decisions.”
James rejected speculation that the health ministry firings in 2012 were in any way related to research about specific drugs or the influence of big pharmaceutical companies on the B.C. Liberal party, calling it “a red herring.”
Despite rampant speculation at the time over the reasons for the eight firings, the B.C. government has steadfastly refused to say what was behind the dismissals.
The government has since settled out-of-court with those fired, issuing apologies in all but two of the settlements.
One of the eight, Roderick MacIssac, was three days away from completing his PhD when he was let go. He committed suicide months later. The government has since apologized to his family.
What if James was on to something, though? That this wasn’t just about the health ministry?
According to the report of the investigation by the Office of B.C.’s Comptroller General — an uncensored copy of which was obtained by the Vancouver Sun — “the results of the investigation also confirm that the informant’s allegations, with certain minor exceptions, have substantial merit and warrant further investigation by appropriate parties.”
If James was right on those points, it stands to reason she might be right on others.
James first raised concerns with officials in 2010. They included “how current and former government employees worked as contractors while helping to draft contracts that gave their colleagues or family special treatment in terms of funding, access to research and intellectual property rights.”
Some news stories add weight to her claims, and they were not the kind that came with ministerial photo-ops.
In 2010, informal discussions had begun between then-Deputy Health Minister John Dyble and Life Sciences BC over the possible sale of patient health information to private companies, according to documents released in 2015 through freedom of information.
Formal meetings started in April 2011. By the time James had become persona non grata in the ministry in 2012, the proposal was still very much alive.
Government policies back then required a competitive process for any contract over $25,000, though direct awards could be given if there was “only one possible vendor who was qualified or available.”
The comptroller general’s investigation uncovered a $25,000 research contract on an Alzheimer’s drug therapy initiative that was later increased to $2.4 million despite not going back out for public tender.
On Christmas Eve in 2010, the attorney general’s office posted a direct award of a $48,000 three-month contract to a Victoria-based consultancy firm.
In 2012, the government awarded a one-year, $198,000 contract to Louise Turner, the new president of the Premier’s Technology Council, without holding a competitive process.
In 2011, Clark hired Athana Mentzelopoulos as deputy minister for corporate priorities.
Three months later, the Vancouver Island Health Authority hired Mentzelopoulos’s husband, Stewart Muir, as vice president of communications and external relations, a post which paid $160,000 a year.
When news of the backroom appointment broke, Health Minister Mike de Jong stated that “a contract was signed but that the procedures in place to ensure there’s a fair competition weren’t entirely followed.” The contract was cancelled.
Over at BC Hydro, the first contract was awarded under the smart meter program. The $73-million contract to install 1.9 million meters went to Corix Utilities.
On the board of BC Hydro at the time was CAI Capital Management financial analyst Tracey McVicar.
A major shareholder of Corix was CAI Capital Management.
BC Hydro’s smart meter program cost an estimated $430 per meter. Quebec’s program cost $263 per meter.
Dyble had also been deputy minister of transportation until January 2009.
One of the ministry’s employees under his watch has found retirement to be golden. When he retired in 2006, his salary was $110,000.
Since then — through a private corporation — he’s billed the government an average of $261,200 annually, for a total of $1.3 million.
The multicultural outreach strategy was also in full swing by 2012.
Barinder Bhullar — implicated in the scandal — was a ministerial assistant to de Jong when he was appointed health minister in 2011.
The government never meant for most of these stories to be public, but they hint at something systemic.
It’s why James’s concerns may have been viewed as threatening to open a proverbial Pandora’s box.
Remember that red herring thing? Maybe that’s what was intended. Everyone focused on the health ministry side of the story and skipped the most important part: “systemic throughout government.”
The issues James raised demand more than a cursory review and a now-proven whistleblower deserves better.
In a former office of a long past independent investigative arm of the B.C. attorney general, a sign read: “Corruption breeds best in the dark.” ”
https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/b-c-government-scandals-hint-at-systemic-misconduct_b_9848558
Who reports on or polices misconduct in municipal governments,without citizens having to discover and do the leg work on it first?