Premier Danielle Smith in March asked retired judge Raymond Wyant to investigate procurement practices for drugs and chartered surgical facilities in the province after Alberta Health Service’s former chief executive, Athana Mentzelopoulos, sued the government for wrongful dismissal.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
The external investigator that the Alberta government hired to look into allegations of impropriety tied to health care contracts needs more time to conduct interviews before submitting his interim report, according to the province.
Raymond Wyant, a retired judge from Manitoba, was scheduled to deliver an update to Premier Danielle Smith’s government Wednesday. Mr. Wyant’s interim report was originally due at the end of May, but the government granted an extension until Sept. 24.
Alberta confirmed that it still expects Mr. Wyant to hand over his final report on Oct. 15.
“Judge Wyant is wrapping up interviews and his interim report is expected in the coming days,” Enyinnah Okere, the province’s deputy minister of communications and public engagement, said in a statement Wednesday morning.
The government is not obligated to publicly release the interim report, Mr. Okere said, pointing to the investigation’s terms of reference. The final report and recommendations will be published, although government has not specified when.
“Given that this matter is still currently under investigation, no further comment can be provided at this time,” Mr. Okere said.
The Premier tapped Mr. Wyant in March to investigate procurement practices for drugs and chartered surgical facilities at Alberta Health Services and the provincial health department after AHS’s former chief executive, Athana Mentzelopoulos, sued the government for wrongful dismissal.
In her lawsuit, she alleges that United Conservative Party government officials interfered with contracting and procurement processes to favour private companies.
Ex-CEO of Alberta health authority asks for lawsuit against her to be tossed
Christina Gray, the New Democratic Party House Leader, said she was not surprised that Mr. Wyant failed to meet the preliminary deadline for a second time.
“These endlessly sliding deadlines for Justice Wyant’s report are yet another reason Alberta needs a real public inquiry into these matters,” Ms. Gray said in a statement. “This UCP government cannot be trusted to investigate itself, and the repeated delays just reinforce how ridiculous this pretend inquiry is.”
The government denies Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s allegations and, in its court filings, said it fired her for failing to execute its strategy to refocus the health care system, which includes expanding use of private surgical facilities to ease the backlog of patients waiting for operations.
None of the allegations have been tested in court.
The RCMP and Alberta’s Auditor-General are conducting separate investigations.
MHCare demands AHS investigation results
The health authority, under Ms. Mentzelopoulos, last year commissioned an investigation into Alberta Surgical Group’s 2022 contract for a private facility in Edmonton.
Alberta Health Services quickly expanded the mandate of the investigation to include that company’s 2024 extension, agreements to open new private surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge and MHCare Medical Corp.’s agreements to procure medication, personal protective equipment and other goods.
The vendors are not party to Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s lawsuit and have previously stated that they acted properly.
On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail reported that the Alberta Health Services investigation, conducted by lawyers at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, found that a consultant advising the health authority on private surgical facilities simultaneously worked for Alberta Surgical Group during its negotiations with AHS for such a clinic.
The consultant, Jitendra Prasad, served as Alberta Health Services’ head of procurement before signing an advisory deal with the agency two weeks after retiring in April, 2022. He returned to his old job in October of that year. Mr. Prasad was not interviewed by Borden Ladner Gervais in its investigation.
The Premier, speaking at an event on Wednesday, said she would not comment on The Globe’s reporting, saying the Borden Ladner Gervais report was confidential.
“I’m not going to comment on the copy of a report that I shouldn’t have seen in the first place, nor should the general public, because it shouldn’t have been leaked,” she said.
Neither Mr. Prasad nor his lawyer acknowledged multiple requests for comment. Alberta Surgical Group’s lawyer previously declined to comment on BLG’s analysis.