Verna Holmes, who filed the civil suit against Modry, told CBC News he has not paid back any money, despite the court order.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou go through all of that and then for what? He still gets away with it,\u201d Holmes said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe took advantage of vulnerable people, and he was in a position himself to know what he was doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Modry, who lives in Edmonton and currently serves as chair of the Alberta Prosperity Project\u2019s board of directors, told CBC News he found the court ruling surprising and disappointing.<\/p>\n
He said he has asked his lawyer to negotiate a settlement for a much smaller amount.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’d like to work out a settlement, just out of frustration, just for this to go away. But there’s no way I’m going to agree to a settlement of the magnitude that they’re referring to,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to court documents from October 2025, no appeal has been filed and the window to appeal has expired.<\/p>\n
Lori Williams, an associate professor of political science at Mount Royal University in Calgary,\u00a0 called the details in the court order \u201cdeeply disturbing\u201d for such a high-profile figure in Alberta.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She said it raises \u201cserious questions about his character, about his credibility and about the credibility of anything that he’s associated with.\u201d<\/p>\n
Modry called her assessment a \u201ctypical slam comment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Modry invested in failed condo project<\/p>\n
In 2014, according to the court decision, Modry was given power of attorney for his uncle Fred Bodnar and Bodnar\u2019s wife, Laurette, who have both since died. Holmes is Laurette\u2019s niece.<\/p>\n
The order details how he took large sums out of their accounts \u2014 including savings and mutual funds, as well as the proceeds from the sale of their car and Parksville, B.C., house \u2014 writing cheques to himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he invested most of the money into a high-end condo project<\/a>\u00a0he was developing in Edmonton called Privada Private Residences, which was later foreclosed on.<\/p>\n WATCH | A separatist group gathers in Calgary: Separatist group collects petition signatures in Calgary<\/p>\n The independence group Stay Free Alberta was collecting signatures at the Big Four Roadhouse on Monday. The petition is calling for a referendum on separating from Canada. The group has about four months to gather close to 178,000 signatures.<\/p>\n Among other expenditures, the document says Modry also rented a condo in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six months, bought 24 bottles of wine and lost $9,000 that he invested in cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n The judge determined Modry violated his obligations under the power of attorney by withdrawing the couple\u2019s money without adequate documentation or proper consent, between 2014 and 2019.<\/p>\n Fred Bodnar was suffering from dementia and Laurette from Alzheimer\u2019s in their later years when Modry was handling their accounts, according to the court order.<\/p>\n Modry argued he was investing the money in the best interests of the couple, and said Fred was of sound mind when he approved his investments in Privada. Based on evidence from medical professionals and others, the judge disagreed.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI find that any investment of Fred and Laurette\u2019s funds in the Privada project or otherwise for the respondent\u2019s personal benefit, does not satisfy the standard of a prudent investor,\u201d Justice Judith Hoffman wrote.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Modry told CBC News he should have kept better records of his transactions, but maintains that Fred supported his investments. He declined to answer questions about specific expenses.<\/p>\n Holmes, who lives in B.C., said the case has been \u201ca very exhausting and upsetting ordeal to have to go through.\u201d<\/p>\n Modry co-founded the Alberta Prosperity Project in 2022, a group pushing for Alberta to leave Canada and become independent.<\/p>\n He travelled to Washington at least three times in 2025, along with the group\u2019s CEO Mitch Sylvestre and chair Jeff Rath, to discuss Alberta separation with Trump administration officials \u2014 trips that B.C. Premier David Eby called acts of \u201ctreason.\u201d<\/p>\n In a recent interview with NBC News<\/a>, Modry said, \u201cIt\u2019s heartening to us at each of the three meetings that we\u2019ve had with the U.S. administration to be informed that the entire U.S. administration is supportive of Alberta becoming a sovereign country.\u201d<\/p>\n WATCH | Eby criticizes Alberta separatists: B.C. premier again calls separatists seeking U.S. support ‘treason\u2019<\/p>\n B.C. Premier David Eby says he supports provinces having conversations about our national structure, but says the Alberta Prosperity Project looking for U.S. support to separate is ‘the definition of treason.’<\/p>\n Modry has worked with Alberta\u2019s conservative governments for decades, and in the 2000s emerged as an advocate for health-care privatization.<\/p>\n A former heart surgeon, Modry in 2015 found himself in a legal fight<\/a>\u00a0with Alberta Health Services over his ability to conduct surgery and get along with other medical staff. The courts ultimately upheld AHS\u2019s suspension of Modry\u2019s surgical privileges, and he discontinued his leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/p>\n The following year, he publicly proposed the Privada development.<\/p>\n Before the Alberta Prosperity Project, Modry was also in the news in 2020 as a critic of COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n The Alberta Prosperity Project did not respond to CBC News\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Connections to Premier Smith<\/p>\n At a 2022 event co-hosted by right-leaning media outlet Rebel News, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that when she decided to run<\/a>, \u201cI knew how important it was to address the issues of autonomy and I talked to Dr. Modry as one of my first steps.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked by Rebel founder Ezra Levant if she was willing to tell the federal government, \u201cWe want these things or else,\u201d on issues of Albertan autonomy, Smith replied, \u201cThe \u2018or else\u2019 is Dennis Modry and the Alberta Prosperity Project.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770088208_845_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772634674_23_default.jpg\")
A crowd filled the Astoria Banquet Hall in northeast Calgary last May for a town hall organized by the Alberta Prosperity Project. (Elise Stolte\/CBC)Long history in Alberta politics<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772634675_213_default.jpg\")
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