Alberta premier, health minister say they weren’t involved in awarding private surgery contracts – CBC

All contracting decisions were made by Alberta Health Services, Smith said

Feb 19, 2025

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange say they had no involvement in determining the details of contracts with private surgical facilities and stressed that all such decisions were made by Alberta Health Services (AHS) staff.

The two politicians were responding to a lawsuit filed by Athana Mentzelopoulous, the former CEO of AHS, claiming LaGrange and staff in Smith’s office applied pressure to renew and sign contracts. In her statement of claim, Mentzelopoulous alleged she had concerns about conflicts of interest in procurement and faced pressure to renew contracts with chartered surgical facilities at prices she thought were too high.

At a Wednesday news conference in Calgary, Smith said all contracting decisions were up to AHS.

“They were the ones who drafted the [requests for proposals],” Smith said. “They were the ones who went out and received the bids. They were the ones who chose the proponent. And then they were the ones who were charged with the task of negotiating the terms of the agreement.

Alberta premier, health minister say they weren’t involved in awarding private surgery contracts – CBC

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