Retired judge Raymond Wyant found Alberta Health Services did not follow its own policies.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Alberta’s provincial health agency did not follow its own policies for two major deals, one for procuring pain medication from Turkey and another for opening a private surgical clinic in Edmonton, according to an independent review commissioned by Premier Danielle Smith’s government.
Raymond Wyant, a retired judge from Manitoba, this week submitted his 43-page report examining alleged procurement and contracting problems at Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health, the government ministry. The government released the report, which contained 18 recommendatons, on Friday.
Mr. Wyant determined Alberta Health Services did not follow procedure when it signed a $70-million deal with MHCare Medical Corp. to import children’s painkillers from Turkey in 2022 or when it signed off on Alberta Surgical Group opening a private clinic in Edmonton that same year. Further, the report noted the government health ministry also failed to follow its own rules regarding the Edmonton surgical centre.
Premier Smith, at an unrelated press conference Friday, pinned responsibility for the procurement shortcomings on Alberta Health Services.
“The Wyant report made it very clear that there was no wrongdoing on the part of elected officials, any of their staff or any of the public servants who were involved in this,” she told reporters. “What they did indicate is that AHS decision-makers had practices and policies they weren’t following.”
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Ms. Smith’s government has been roiled by allegations of impropriety tied to health contracts since February, when The Globe and Mail first reported that Alberta Health Services’s former chief executive, Athana Mentzelopoulos, alleged the government fired her for investigating select deals. The Premier in March selected Mr. Wyant to perform an independent review of the procurement of the children’s medication from Turkey and services from private surgical centres.
Ms. Smith did not address the faults Mr. Wyant identified at Alberta Health. She argued the report vindicates the government’s decision to transfer procurement powers to a newly formed government agency.
But Mr. Wyant was also clear that his investigation and conclusions came with caveats and limitations.
“When I find that there was no wrongful interference by any government official in the matters concerning this report, that only means that I found no evidence of such, but I am not in a position to make a final and absolute determination,” Mr. Wyant stated.
He did not have the power to subpoena or hear testimony under oath. Some people declined to be interviewed or to answer certain questions.
Mr. Wyant did not interview any elected officials as part of his investigation, according to his report. The Premier said he did not request an interview with her or her ministers.
Enyinnah Okere, the province’s deputy minister in charge of communications and public engagement, said Mr. Wyant was unavailable for an interview on Friday.
Two other major investigations into the controversy remain outstanding: One from the RCMP and another from Alberta’s Auditor General. The probes stem from allegations, contained in a wrongful dismissal lawsuit, that the government interfered in the procurement and contracting process to the benefit of certain private companies.
The government fired Ms. Mentzelopoulos as Alberta Health Services’s chief executive in early January. She alleges government officials put pressure on her to sign deals that favoured private businesses.
Meanwhile, the government alleges it fired Ms. Mentzelopoulos for incompetence, rather than in response to her investigation. None of the allegations have been tested in court.
In a statement on Friday, Ms. Mentzelopoulos, said Mr. Wyant’s report confirms she was investigating “legitimate issues.”
MHCare, in a statement released by its lawyers, also pointed to the report as evidence it acted properly.
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“Hopefully, this independent examination of the facts will begin to correct the many misleading and unfounded assertions that have been so often repeated over the past many months,” the statement said. “In every regard, MHCare has complied with all applicable policies, procedures, regulations and laws.”
Mr. Wyant, in his report, noted MHCare’s owner, Sam Mraiche, through his counsel, declined to answer questions about the profit margin on the deal to import drugs from Turkey. Mr. Mraiche also owns stakes in two proposed private surgical clinics.
Mr. Wyant’s investigation also explored the roles Jitendra Prasad and Blayne Iskiw played in the deals under question. Both men are former Alberta Health Services senior procurement officials who, according to the retired judge, “were in real or perceived conflicts of interest.”
In a statement, Mr. Iskiw said the report reassured him he complied with all the rules. Mr. Wyant’s recommendations, he said, could help others avoid the scrutiny he is facing.
“As a former public servant and someone who has been subjected to unfair innuendo and false allegations, I believe the judge’s recommendations should help fortify public confidence in our systems and protect others from enduring the unpleasant experience through which I have lived this past year.”
Neither Mr. Prasad, nor his lawyer acknowledged a message seeking comment.
Mr. Wyant waded through more than two-million documents supplied by Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health. Some documents were offered as recently as last month, he said.
Alberta’s Premier, in December, 2022, announced a plan to buy five-million bottles of pediatric ibuprofen and acetaminophen from Turkey during a medication shortage. MHCare landed the $70-million import deal.
“This contract did not go to the market to determine whether there were other vendors from which the product could be purchased, and to determine which vendor or manufacturer could provide the product at the best price and with the most favourable terms,” Mr. Wyant said.
The health agency has a policy regarding sole-sourced contracts, but it was not followed, he said.
Mr. Wyant also detailed problems with Alberta Surgical Group’s sole-source deal to open a private clinic in Edmonton, and noted there is a need for more “clarity, standardization, rigour and predictability” around contracts for these types of facilities.
“When pricing is set that appears, on its face, to differ significantly from location to location, the necessity for the differences in pricing needs to be clear and cogent,” he wrote. “Unexplained differences can only serve to cause the public to question whether it is receiving value for money spent.”
Alberta Surgical Group’s lawyer did not provide a comment.
Alberta’s New Democratic Party said the report does not absolve Ms. Smith and her government of wrongdoing.
“Danielle Smith would love it for Albertans to think that this issue is over, but it is not,” Rakhi Pancholi, the NDP’s deputy leader, told reporters.
Ms. Smith said the government will adopt all of Mr. Wyant’s recommendations, many of which focused on conflicts of interest.
AHS spokesperson Kristi Bland said the agency will follow the recommendations and is strengthening its “internal controls,” training and conflict of interest disclosure processes.