Alberta Premier Smith defends health minister amid scandal on health purchases

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, accompanied by other Council of the Federation members, speaks to reporters at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Ben Curtis

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has her full support as they navigate allegations of high-level government corruption in medical contracts.

“I still have confidence in my health minister,” Smith told reporters Wednesday while in Washington, D.C. to lobby with other premiers against U.S. tariffs.

“We have to see if there’s any wrongdoing first. And if there is, then we have to clean it up.”

• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

Smith, speaking publicly on the allegations for the first time, said she supports a review being done by Alberta’s auditor general Doug Wylie and that government documents are being made available.

“If there’s wrongdoing, we’d like to get to the bottom of it,” she said.

The controversy surrounds allegations made by Athana Mentzelopoulos, the former head of Alberta Health Services.

Mentzelopoulos, in a letter from her lawyer, alleges she was fired last month because she was investigating questionable deals, overpriced contracts with private surgical facilities and conflicts of interest that reached right into Smith’s office.

The letter alleges Mentzelopoulos was pressured by government staff to sign new contracts and extensions for private surgical facilities despite having concerns about ownership groups and cost figures.

Smith said Wednesday that as she understood it, from her health minister, the United Conservative Party government had been asking for proof of those concerns for eight months, but weren’t provided with any.

The letter says Mentzelopoulos was fired two days before she was to meet with Wylie to share her findings.

The Opposition NDP have been calling on Smith and LaGrange to step aside and, along with health-care unions and advocacy groups, are calling for a full judicial inquiry to get to the bottom of the affair.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 12, 2025.