Danielle Smith’s CorruptCare scandal
This could be the most incredible political corruption scandal in Canada’s history.
Published Feb 20, 2025 in The Sherwood Park News • Last updated 22 hours ago • 3 minute read
In January, Danielle Smith fired the CEO and entire Board of Directors of Alberta Health Services… again. This is the second board of directors and the fourth CEO of Alberta Health Services that Smith has fired since she became the Premier two years ago.
The UCP have spent untold millions of dollars in the last two years on severance packages for the executives they have fired only months after they have hired them.
The fact that Smith and her UCP cabinet ministers keep firing the same people they hand pick for these important leadership roles in the government, is a sign of their recklessness and incompetence. Their most recent firing of the CEO of Alberta Health Services has also revealed UCP corruption and arrogance.
In a botched attempt to cover up dodgy purchasing practices by the UCP, Smith fired Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos in January when the CEO uncovered irregular purchasing practices by the government’s health services corporation and was preparing to present her findings to the Auditor General and the RCMP.
If the allegations are true, the CEO faced pressure from the Premier’s Office to approve contracts for private surgical centres hired by Alberta Health Services at a higher cost than a publicly delivered option. At one-point Mentzelopoulos claims she raised a concern that one private surgical facility was projected to exceed their contract value by almost $3.5 million and was not going to deliver the required number of surgical procedures under its contract with Alberta Health Services.
Alberta Health Services staff were allegedly being pressured to pay a private surgical provider for services that were not being used and paying higher rates for services than public providers and other private providers. The dubious deal to pay more for less services was with a business that was also the medical supplier behind the $70-million purchase of children’s medicine from Turkey.
The most recently fired CEO has now filed a Statement of Claim in Court to be paid for the balance of her employment agreement. Her position was one of the highest paid in the Alberta Government. Once again, the UCP will spend millions more of our money for severance because of choices by Smith and her cabinet ministers.
The CEO was fired without cause, and it appears she was fired because she was carrying out her duties as a CEO diligently and in the best interest of Albertans. The allegations have not been proven in court but if they are, this could be the most incredible political corruption scandal in Canada’s history.
The Premier claims she did not know anything about the allegations. Which means she was either complicit or she is incompetent and did not know about the goings on in the largest department and largest budget item under her responsibility.
Albertans, regardless of our political stripes deserve an ethical and competent government.
We have called for an independent investigation by the Auditor General and the RCMP. The Premier and her office are mentioned eleven times in the Statement of Claim. An inquiry needs to be independent because the Premier and UCP cabinet ministers are implicated in this corrupt care scandal.
Alberta deserves so much better than this.
Kyle Kasawski is the MLA for Sherwood Park. If you have questions about this column or any provincial issues, he would like to hear from you. Find his contact information at kylekasawski.ca
The call to action: Albertans who care about this need to contact the Premier, the Health Minister and cc their MLA. If your MLA is UCP, please make sure you cc someone in the opposition so there is a record of opinion.
Please make your individual voice known.
Smith needs the boot. There's no space for her twisted politics in Canada. She deserves a full investigation by the public and by the parliament. Consequences.