🚨Tell Danielle Smith she must call a public inquiry

Smith government is under fire over allegations of misuse of public dollars

Image source: Globe and Mail

With almost daily upates since the story first broke on February 5th, here’s a roundup of the reporting regarding these allegations so far:

  • The Globe and Mail reported that Danielle Smith’s government fired the head of Alberta Health Services on January 8th, two days before the AHS head was scheduled to meet with the Auditor General to discuss her investigation and forensic audit into a number of medical procurement contracts linked to the owner of the firm that imported the unsafe Turkish Tylenol, MHCare.

 

  • As reported by the Globe and Mail, the owner of MHCare provided luxury tickets to NHL games to multiple cabinet ministers and members of Danielle Smith’s staff in 2023 and 2024.

 

  • The former AHS head alleges that government officials, including the Premier’s then-chief of staff Marshall Smith, “put pressure on the AHS head to sign deals for private surgical facilities despite concerns around the value of contracts and questions around ownership.”

 

  • The Globe and Mail reported that the owner of MHCare “owns a stake in two private surgical facilities that last year were negotiating contracts with AHS. Some of the fees on the negotiating table were more than double what a private competitor in Calgary was being paid and AHS’s internal costs for the same procedures, according to documents obtained.” 

 

  • The former AHS head has alleged in court records that an internal AHS investigation found that the health authority had purchased over $600-million in supplies and services from MHCare and companies associated with its owner. 

 

  • The Globe and Mail reported that a member of AHS’s procurement staff, Jitendra Prasad, “also had an e-mail account with MHCare during part of the time he worked for the health authority, [...] including when he was negotiating the contract to buy Turkish pain medication.”

 

  • The Globe and Mail reported that the allegations tie Danielle Smith’s then chief of staff, Marshall Smith, to Jitendra Prasad, and claim that “Prasad, who previously was in charge of procurement at AHS, ‘appeared’ to be retained or engaged by people involved with [chartered surgical facilities] and other purchasing contracts, while also advising AHS and Alberta Health on those same deals.”

 

  • The former AHS head alleges that Marshall Smith, the premier’s then-chief of staff, "appeared to make calls on behalf of private surgical organizations."

 

  • The former head of AHS alleges that Danielle Smith’s then-chief of staff, “Marshall Smith called her on a September day in 2024 to ask about the status of negotiations on charter surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge. She says he told her that there were people involved with one company, Alberta Surgical Group, who were growing impatient with delays, and that they were ‘serious people – don’t mess with them.’ “

 

  • The Globe and Mail reported that “the AHS board, after [the then-head of AHS] provided an update on her investigation in December, recommended that she take her findings to the RCMP.”

 

  • On January 31st, Danielle Smith axed the entire board of AHS.

 

  • The former AHS head alleges that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange had been briefed on the investigations, but was dismissive of them.

 

  • The Tyee reported that the owner of MHCare “bought a property last spring and sold it three months later to the province, netting a profit of $300,000.”

 

  • The Globe and Mail has reported that to date, “Alberta only received a fraction of the [children’s pain medicine] it paid for in that deal and used very little of the supply that arrived.” 

 

  • The Globe and mail reported that AHS had demanded “a detailed status update” from MHCare on the unfulfilled $49.2-million of the total $70-million contract for children’s pain medication by January 8th 2025, the same day Danielle Smith’s government fired the AHS head.

 

  • On February 25, 2025, Alberta Cabinet Minister Peter Guthrie resigned over Danielle Smith’s handling of AHS allegations. He was quoted: “I’m not going to stand by and see potential corruption exist within government and be a part of that.”

 

  • The Tyee has reported that in March 2023, Danielle Smith's Government appointed a "business partner" of MHCare's owner to Edmonton's Police Commission.



📣Take Action: Tell Danielle Smith she must take these allegations seriously

✉️  1) Email the Alberta Government

Tell Danielle Smith and her government that these allegations can't be dismissed. Rather than deflecting blame to AHS, the Alberta Government must:

1) Call a judicial-led public inquiry;

2) Remove all members of her government implicated in the scandal;

3) Pause all procurement for private surgical facilities until the public inquiry is complete.

 

 

☎️  2) Call your favourite UCP MLA

MLAs love to hear from constituents. Make sure they hear your voice that the UCP government must take these allegations of misuse of public funds seriously.

CALL YOUR MLA

 

⬆️ 3) Share this post

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