Finally responding in person to Athana Mentzelopoulos’s $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit, Premier Danielle Smith stood up at a government news conference in Calgary yesterday and spent part of the tightly controlled half-hour event publicly attacking her former Alberta Health Services CEO for the way she did her job before the government fired her on Jan. 8.
I don’t know what Ms. Mentzelopoulos or her legal counsel are going to do about the premier’s implication her handpicked AHS chief executive intentionally stood in the way of the government’s efforts to restructure the health care system and failed to inform her political bosses of her concerns about pressure to approve dodgy contracts, but if I were in their shoes I’d be working on a revised statement of claim seeking an increase in damages for the additional harm intentionally done to the plaintiff’s reputation.
As NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi put it, the premier’s news conference was “a master class in gaslighting.”
The premier is still struggling to control the damage caused by the allegation in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s Feb. 12 statement of claim that she was fired for launching an investigation of sketchy procurement deals and contracts with private surgical companies pushed by influential staffers working for the United Conservative Party Government, including in the premier’s office.
Ms. Smith’s goal from start to finish yesterday was to avoid talking about Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s bombshell allegations of interference that, the former CEO said, resulted in higher costs to taxpayers. In this, the premier largely succeeded.
She did so by rambling on about the timelines of the AHS approval process and striving to lend credibility to tendentious claims Ms. Mentzelopoulos had not informed Health Minister Adriana LaGrange of her concerns about the contracts in a timely manner, had thrown roadblocks in the way of government policy, and generally acted in a way that justified her dismissal. The premier’s staff helped by cutting off a reporter who persisted with aggressive questions.
Never mind that the proper place to respond to the plaintiff’s allegations in her statement of claim is in a courtroom. The premier’s goal, clearly, was to leave the impression any dodgy contracts were someone else’s fault – maintaining that they originated entirely within AHS – and that her government is determined to get to the bottom of what happened.
But there will be no proper public inquiry into the allegations, Ms. Smith made it clear. As a result, there can be no credible resolution to the scandal.
Naturally, there was no promise, let alone a guarantee, that whatever the investigation entirely controlled by her government discovers will be passed on to the public.
Yes, Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s allegations and her claim she was fired in “an arbitrary, capricious, callous, high-handed, and bad faith manner” for properly carrying out her duty to investigate high-level interference with overpriced contracts were bound to set off a political storm.
But were it not for the premier’s adoption of the full MAGA strategy of always attacking and denying everything, this could have been handled more diplomatically. The matter is, after all, now before the courts.
During the newser, Ms. Smith repeated her claim she had nothing to do with anything beyond general policy decisions. “I was not involved in these procurement decisions. I had nothing to do with the process decisions, or the implementation.”
The courts may eventually have something to say about the aggressive strategy adopted by Alberta’s head of government – assuming a deal is not quietly struck with Ms. Mentzelopolous to prevent that from happening.
In the meantime, Ms. Smith made it clear, she won’t be firing Ms. LaGrange – whatever Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie thinks she ought to do.
It is less clear what will happen to Mr. Guthrie, but it seems quite possible that he won’t be fired either if the episode can be made to disappear expeditiously down the Memory Hole. There is no evidence, after all, that he leaked his own letter to his cabinet colleagues saying Ms. LaGrange should be replaced – not that a lack of evidence is necessarily an impediment to this government’s plans.
Andre Tremblay, the senior civil servant who just days ago the premier declared to be AHS’s everything, everywhere, all at once – official administrator, acting CEO, and deputy minister of health – will be replaced on an interim basis as deputy minister by an associate DM of health, Darren Hedley.
Both the premier and health minister insisted all contracts were strictly an internal AHS matter, and made concerted attacks on Alberta Health Services, channelling Donald Trump and trying to make it sound as if there were a Deep State conspiracy throughout the organization to slow down the government’s plan to privatize surgical services.
“AHS leadership has always shown us resistance, and it is clear that they would rather keep all surgeries in hospitals only operated by Alberta Health Services,” Ms. Smith complained at one point. This is unlikely, but if true suggests someone spoke up for the well-understood fact it makes far more sense to run things that way, notwithstanding the cherry-picked statistics the premier trotted out as a comparison of private and public surgical costs.
Please note, dear readers, that an estimate of the true cost of surgeries in public facilities by the respected Canadian Institute of Health Information is not the same thing as a per-operation price bid by a private company for a contract to perform surgeries. The first is likely to have some weight. The latter is an advertising pitch. Both ignore the impact of creaming easy surgeries off to for-profit contractors while dumping complex operations on the public system.
Ms. Smith also said she would be setting up a “legal conflicts wall” so that those like Ms. LaGrange and Mr. Tremblay named in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s statement of claim could continue to stay on the job without being able to interfere in the effort to investigate what actually took place. How this is supposed to work is not clear, and requires pretzel logic to believe.
However, as Mr. Nenshi observed in a statement sent to media soon after the premier’s newser ended, “despite all her talk of ‘legal walls’, people will be investigating, and reporting to, their own bosses. Albertans have every right to be deeply suspicious.”
“The premier’s story makes no sense, and she’s clearly trying to hide the truth about alleged government corruption,” Mr. Nenshi said. “The premier claims that the minister was trying to get to the bottom of this for eight months, and never told the premier, and that the premier had no idea what her chief of staff was doing. If this is true, both the premier and the minister are incompetent and must go. If she’s lying about it, Albertans deserve a premier who tells the truth.”
It’s important to note that the allegations made in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s statement of claim have not been tested in a court of law. It’s also probably important to note that this point many of the allegations made by Premier Smith in defence of the way her government does business haven’t been tested in a court of law either.
I do suppose complex surgeries are plumper and stodgier than the sweet cream contracts skimmed off by private clinics … but I think you meant “dumping”.
PJP: Everyone has been very funny about this typo this morning and I thank you all. It’s been fixed. DJC
David, I read your blog on regular basis but rarely comment. You haven’t written anything that I have been thinking re: the UCP. JK’s gov’t was a hot mess, but DS is a f*cking inferno. But I digress…
I am my own worst editor, so I hesitate to point out mistakes when I see them in other people’s writings. I am glad you take corrections in stride. It’s a pity new sites (CTV/CBC /Global) don’t listen to reader/viewer feedback like you do. I cannot count the times I have written in to point out errors. Yet, phrases like “different than” instead of “different from” (or to) and “waiting on” rather than “waiting for,” are becoming commonplace. The latest to get on my nerves is “forecasted” As in “tomorrow the weather is forecasted…”
Typos or not, I thank you, David, for keeping me abreast of AB politicals..it is news that I can trust.
Suzanne: I think there are typos (yesterday’s dumpling for dumping, for example) and things we can disagree about – which often come down to 19th Century grammatical superstitions versus localized prejudices versus colloquial usage. Never start a sentence with And or But, they say. H.W. Fowler describes that as a mere “superstition.” Forecast or forecasted? Broadcast or broadcasted? Well, cast is an irregular verb, and the past tense is cast. That doesn’t mean that tomorrow it won’t all be casted out in the snow. (A little joke.) Sometimes, although not very often, I just disagree with the prevailing usage and go my own way. The dictionary may tell you something different, but as far as I’m concerned it is an error to refer to anyone who is not a police officer as a civilian. This is not actually incorrect, but it subverts an important distinction – between members of the military and civilians. In other words, police officers are civilians too, subject to civil law, no matter what the Canadian Oxford Dictionary foolishly says. Around here, health care remains two words. We speak English, not German. Which is a long way of saying, I always welcome comments that point out errors, even if I sometimes decide they are not errors. DJC
There is a colloquial tendency for members of any profession to refer to those who are not as “civilians”. For example, in my profession – one to whose practitioners you are routinely exposed in your day job — using “civilians” to describe members of the public that are not patients is not uncommon.
Jerry: I am aware of that jocular usage. We said the same thing in journalism back in the day, too, everyone who wasn’t a hack or hackette being classified as a civilian. The description of non-sworn police department employees as “civilian employees,” however, represents a different and more serious distinction, a symptom of the fact that society is coming to accept the fact most police no longer see themselves as servants of the public but as military occupiers of the areas they patrol. Common dictionary definitions reinforce this, defining “civilian” as “…a person not in the armed services or the police force.” Notwithstanding the authority usually given to dictionaries, this is incorrect. A civilian is “…a person not in the armed services.” Period. Police, with the exceptions of military police and perhaps commissioned officers in the RCMP, are civilians. The true distinction between civilians and military personnel remains important in a democratic society. DJC
Nenshi is going to them Accountable for their Actions.
The level of nonsense that Queen Danielle is burping out another obscenity of a lie that is barely believable. Of course, the Postmedia mental cases will slavishly lap up every one of her tasty bites, like it’s her delicious dung.
Sensible people would have frog marched Smith and her ilk to the gallows by now. But this is Alberta, so I’m not hopeful.
JM: Interestingly, it’s gotten so bad that in the past two days, three out of four Postmedia co=lumns on this topic have been critical of the government and expressed doubts about Ms. Smith’s story. The Dinger remains true to form, however. DJC
Absolutely. I am calling for them to be tarred, feathered and shown to the US border
Or…my fever dream would be to set up the gallows at the border, so the last thing they will ever see will be their fevered hopes and dreams, just over the Medicine Line, forever dashed. Poor things. FAFO.
Hello DJC,
“Curiouser ad curiouser” as Alice said in Alice in Wonderland. (Lewis Carroll 1865)
Danielle Smith is trying to find a hole that is large enough to bury this all in. That will be difficult to accomplish. Anyone that saw this press conference, could see by the body gestures on Adriana LaGrange and Danielle Smith, that they were very uncomfortable, and they were lying. In the press conference, Danielle Smith used her well known phrase, when she is caught fibbing – “Well look!” Near the end of the press conference, a reporter asked them a very tough question. “Have you received any kickbacks from any private surgical contractors? Yes, or no?” Danielle Smith said no. Adrianna LaGrange said absolutely not! The facial expressions on Danielle Smith and Adriana LaGrange showed they weren’t telling the truth. There was a lot of blinking going on. Adriana LaGrange looked very uncomfortable, and was blinking alot. This looks really bad.
Danni also rubbed her nose prior to saying no. A gesture often made, before a person lies.
Well it seems Premier Smith sure tried to give a spirited defence here. If there were an Academy Award for the Best Performance by a Beleaguered Premier, surely she would be a nominee. Although I feel the guy with the CANADA IS NOT FOR SALE hat performed better, which probably explains why he is not as beleaguered now.
I notice yet again Smith’s strongest denials were mainly about her own role here. I suppose it could be argued she didn’t really know what her former Chief of Staff or perhaps soon to be former Health Minister were up to. After all, it was they who were mentioned in the former AHS CEO’s lawsuit. But it is hard to believe she didn’t have some idea of the problems. The Premier herself said she had spent months trying to get to the bottom of it, so she must have had some inkling about what was going on, despite her strenuous denials now.
Mr. Guthrie is probably safe for now if for no other reason Smith would look more guilty by punishing him. It is quite possible someone else leaked his memo, but then that probably means others in cabinet share his concerns, which could be a bigger problem for Smith.
No doubt keeping those who serious allegations have been made about in place, can give them the opportunity to both try conceal or get rid of things that may make them look bad. Certainly staff may also be reluctant to speak up against their bosses.
Lastly, I doubt the former AHS CEO who was appointed by the UCP was as against privatization as Smith is trying to portray, but I suppose it makes a nice story for those supporters of hers who seem to have a deep suspicion of AHS.
If Smith was unaware of what her chief of staff was doing it makes her completely incompetent and unfit to hold office. If she she knew of his malfeasance and did nothing to remedy it this also makes her unfit to hold public office and may result in serious legal sanctions against her. Both Smith and her health minister showed signs of anxiety at Wednesday’s press conference that suggests both know the perilous legal ground that they now stand on. Why Alberta voters gave this woman a second chance to be a sitting member of the Alberta legislature is something that is hard to comprehend. They should have learned from her past history as an elected politician.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Ms. Smith has a poor set of qualifications to be Premier. She admits to her own incompetence by not knowing what her own Chief of Staff was doing, and her health minister. The whole thing speaks for itself. She should resign. What benefits are there to staying. This scandal has arms and legs and will carry her away. Everything Marlaina touches turns to malodorous cow patties.
“The latter is an advertising pitch. Both ignore the impact of creaming easy surgeries off to for-profit contractors while dumping complex operations on the public system.” I believe you may be the first journalist to see the fox in our hen house! Well done! (minor edit is on me) So for you? A song.. *thinks long and hard*.. https://youtu.be/uHoK2TcyTQs
“… they would rather keep all surgeries in hospitals only operated by Alberta Health Services”
As do an overwhelming number of Albertans.
What a disgrace Marlain-a-Lago is. She whines that the privatization scam is being held up by ethical people. Her underlings cut off questions from the media. She refuses a public inquiry. If there’s nothing to hide what’s the problem?
I bet she hires some UCP insider for a huge payday to tell us it’s all AHS’s fault.
The UCP lust for enriching themselves with taxpayer dollars is getting worse and more blatant every day. A public judicial inquiry is the only way we might learn what’s going on behind closed doors with this government.
How about it Jimmy “dine on the tax payers Dinning.”
Or how about Presto (True North) Manning?
As a reliable champion of Dani’s ongoing nonsense, he’s overdue for another generous outpouring of Alberta taxpayers’ money.
So many coincidences… Ockham’s razor leads me to believe the more likely explanation is not the long-winded one favoured by Smith, but the more logical and simple one held up by the ousted CEO of AHS.
The health minister clearly isn’t a fan of Star Trek. Otherwise she would know what happens to redshirts (aka disposable crewmembers).
I’m sorry. I don’t believe a single word out of Ms. Smith’s mouth. A snake can shed its skin ( Wild Rose to UPC ) but it’s still a snake.
Let’s hope she has no way out. These mindless seniors are still making up idiotic comments to try to save her. They don’t care about the damage she has done by trying to privatize their healthcare that’s how stupid they are. You can bet she was hoping her pal Reformer Poilievre got elected at the Federal Level and helped her destroy the Public Healthcare System for all Canadians. It’s been the number one goal of Reformers since day one. It got Harper and Klein kicked out of office, didn’t it?
Alan K. Spiller: You can bet that this will make Pierre Poilievre get defeated. In 2005, Ralph Klein’s babbling about 3rd Way healthcare reforms got Stephen Harper and the CPC defeated. Things don’t change with these phony Conservatives and Reformers, other than the people involved with their foolish ideas.
Anonymous Have you seen the huge sign near Bowden apparently these mindless Rural Albertans desperately want an American Style Healthcare System so they can be forced to pay $800.to $1,000.per month each while my American relatives want out of theirs. It’s the number one cause of bankruptcies in the U.S. If you need an operation costing $300,000. which isn’t unusual it could cost you $200,000. The private insurance never covers the total amount.
Alan K. Spiller: I saw that sign on the news.
So true… Everything about Danielle is Big Money… what about the Middle Class, Working Class, Low Income Earners?
Does not fit into her equations at all! Time for a change and a real change if we are gonna change Politics.
*dumpling?
Tho I am on board with Dani getting the trots from her cherry picking. It gives her a unique interpretation of kakistocracy. Dancing in the kaka. Oh Horsebuns and cow pies.
Sorry but if the UCP weren’t so bad that wouldn’t be so easy.
Lungta: You’re forgiven,. It’s been fixed. DJC
She must go. Medicine Hat. Get your Recall kit from ABResistance She’s an ugly liar.
There’s a premium to pay for politics in health care in Alberta. And the premium is to accept lies and corruption.Where’s the rcmp investigation or judicial inquiry?
MI: With regard to the deleted portion of your comment, I am certainly concerned with that issue. DJC
Typo? Dumpling?
John: I must’ve been hungry when I typed that. It’s been fixed. Many thanks. DJC
Spin mistress she surely is. Not awfully believable, but a word salad par excellance!
Unfortunately the “news’ clips don’t show how aggressive Premier Smith was in the news conference. Your piece gives an accuarate recall of the event and the shrill nature of her responses.
2 aspects grab my attention – the Premier had to be in loop when the sudden decision was made to fire the CEO and soon after the entire Board of Directors. ( hand picked) . Where is the Board in all this discussion or was there a non disclosure tied to their dismissal ?
It would be instructive to see if any of these greed-before-need surgical corporations have contributed to Christo-nationalist cult leader David Parker’s Take Over Alberta!
Just maybe with the allegations,it would be easier to call her pals ,then again who’s going to be swatted ? Call the RCMP for back up ,like the old days
Yesterday’s news conference was for the benefit of the base. They’re suffering from ‘belief disconfirmation’ and some are wobbling in their support for the UCP. So they’ve been presented with an alternate reality in an effort to square the circle.
Like a good fascist, Smith lies likes she breathes. Trump has emboldened these sinister characters who privately hold the public in contempt while putting on airs that they are “work’n fer Alber’ns”. The most shocking part of all is that her base of medieval peasants are beguile enough to believe every word she spews, in no small part to the domination of the right wing media in Canada and particularly in Alberta.
UCP MLA or Premier = Typical Liar
Danielle Smith claims she didn’t make the decision to award the dodgy contracts: “I was not involved in these procurement decisions. I had nothing to do with the process decisions, or the implementation.”
Somebody check if these are the same two extremely generous contracts approved by Danielle Smith’s government. According to an analysis by Susan Wright (the retired corporate lawyer who writes the “Susan on the Soapbox” blog*), four contracts for private, for-profit surgery clinics were approved by UCP governments: two by Jason Kenney’s government, and two by Smith’s. Smith’s government approved the most outrageously generous cancellation clauses—essentially, guaranteeing the ENTIRE SIX YEARS’ value of the contract to the surgery owners in case of cancellation. Even Jason Kenney didn’t dare go that far.
*(Note: I tried to locate the relevant blog post, but was unable to. Apparently, WordPress isn’t very good at archiving stuff. If anyone has independent verification, I’m sure we’d all be delighted to see it.)
Yet Daneille Smith changed the legislation controlling Alberta Health Services, giving herself the final say in all decisions made by AHS administrators, or the shattered-glass fragments that remain. Smith’s legislation gave veto power to Adriana LaGrange and ultimately, to Danielle Smith herself. If Smith didn’t make the final decisions, then who the hell did?
Mike J Danysh: I believe that we aren’t going to hear the end of this. It’s going to have much more to it. At the most, I’d say before the end of the year, Danielle Smith will have to resign as premier. The UCP will go right down with her. There is too much baggage with her. The UCP MLAs will attack each other, because of this, and the UCP will collapse. All of this will be too hard for the columnists in the media, such as Postmedia to brush off. Instead of weak condemnation, they will have to accept that their UCP heroes have crossed a line that they shouldn’t have crossed.
If “AHS leadership has always shown [the UCP government] resistance,” it’s because the UCP government is incompetent, scientifically illiterate, and invincibly ignorant. As for “keep[ing] all surgeries in [AHS] hospitals,” that only makes sense. Those contracts guaranteed that the private surgery clinics could demand anesthesiologists be transferred from AHS hospitals whenever the clinic owners wanted them. (Wanna bet AHS would have to pay the salaries of those anesthesiologists, too?)
I was more interested in the body language than what came out of her mouth. I knew what she was going to say, but her non verbals as well as her health minister’s gave off a sense of vengeance and anger that I have seen in few politicians.
Is she telling the truth or just pissed that her and her cabinets antics and continuous denials have entrapped the whole works ?
Actually I wonder if the Federal Health department is investigating since these actions might contravene federal law?
Nate from The Breakdown has done an excellent and well researched expose on the corruption of AHS… and… It includes ALL supporting documentation. If the right people manage to see this,her goose is gonna be cooked.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/16FZUFauBN/?mibextid=oFDknk
Corruption of the government, not AHS. It is a very comprehensive, convincing summary… to the point where MH Care is suing him for $6 million. Euan Thomson’s Drug Data Decoded provides similar procurement issues within the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions. If a judicial inquiry is ever undertaken, it needs to be expanded to encompass this Ministry as well, and likely those of Seniors and Social Services and Education.
The premier said that AHS had successfully negotiated contracts like these for years. She also said that AHS management had been resisting these contracts for years. Hard to see how both are true. She said AHS management, including Mentzelopoulos, who she hired only a year ago, were part of the resistance. So, apparently, was the entire AHS board. The UCP has been clear for years that it prefers private surgeries. Mentzelopoulos and the board members would have understood this when they were appointed. Yet, we’re supposed to believe they all suddenly had a drastic change of mind and became part of an organized resistance? Still, it was entertaining to see Danielle do an impression of the Borg Queen. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
“Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.”
So it is assumed that the default option automatically becomes the one where, “When it becomes serious, you have to lie.” Is the current political hide and seek controversy serious yet?
This is an old recurring story (Deena Hinshaw and Artur Pawlowski immediately spring to mind) that speaks directly to a lack of sound judgement, faulty character, and predictably repetitive suspect behavior. See for example,
https://globalnews.ca/news/10178284/alberta-premier-smith-denies-political-interference-hinshaw-contract/
“And what we see is a disturbing pattern of politicization around what should be independent and public service-based hiring for people who are best qualified to provide care to Albertans and in this case, best qualified to provide important public health services to vulnerable indigenous communities.”
https://globalnews.ca/news/9708639/alberta-ethics-probe-danielle-smith-covid-pawlowski/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-ethics-premier-danielle-smith-breached-conflict-of-interest-act-1.6847662
https://ablawg.ca/2023/05/24/ethics-commissioner-confirms-that-premier-danielle-smith-breached-the-conflicts-of-interest-act-and-a-fundamental-principle-of-our-democracy/
“Alberta’s ethics commissioner says United Conservative Premier Danielle Smith undermined democracy and broke conflict-of-interest rules by intervening in a criminal case and pressuring her attorney general to “make it go away.””
““I thought I was going about it the right way.””
“She doesn’t have any understanding of the separation between different branches of the government,” said Sabir.
No spotless leopards? For those of you wondering, Jeremiah 13:23. This is a useful saying, but phrased inappropriately for residents of a global village, which is why I usually steer clear of it in this space. DJC
All of the possible negative consequences potentially spilling over into the forum itself and beyond were not left unexplored by myself, the immutability of spotted leopards and behavioral continuity notwithstanding.
I will attempt redemption by referencing the following:
“In 1807, a new edition of the works of William Shakespeare hit the scene in England. Titled The Family Shakespeare, the collection of 20 of the Bard’s plays in four volumes was at first anonymously edited, and promised in its preface to “remove every thing that could give just offence to the religious or virtuous mind.” Though the sanitized project later became a public sensation (and a source of literary derision) after its expanded, ten-volume second edition was published in 1818 and credited solely to physician Thomas Bowdler, the original expurgation was in fact the work of his older sister Henrietta Maria “Harriet” Bowdler, an accomplished editor and author. Within a year of the younger Bowdler’s death in 1825, bowdlerize had come to refer to cutting out the dirty bits of other books and texts—testimony not only to the impact of his eye for impropriety, but to those of his sister Harriet as well, though her efforts were obscured by history, if not technically bowdlerized.”
Contrition is attempted by referencing, once again, the work that is the source of the vexatious quote,
“I (try to) hold fast to your statutes, do not let me be put to shame”.
Sincerest apologies, as it is your house and your rules and I am merely a guest.
Kickback: You’ll notice that I didn’t censor or censure your accurate scriptural quote, only comment on my discomfort with it. If I’d thought it was used in a bigoted way – which it clearly was not – I would have deleted it. All comments on this blog are moderated, by Yours Truly. DJC
We can not afford to lose our Nation over something so Sinister.
I certainly hope that Ms. Mentzelopoulos will not take any settlements (if offered), as tempting as it might be, and goes through with the trial. Otherwise we will never know exactly what happened.
Don’t hold your breath. A statistic I saw just the other day reported that over 90% of wrongful dismissal lawsuits in this country are settled out of court, and you can bet your bottom dollar any such settlement would include a strict non-disclosure agreement that would gag Ms Mentzelopolous.
“They Can’t Help Themselves from Helping Themselves”
A simple psychological profile of both Marlaina and Adriana would involve exploring the root causes of thievery. Narcissistic people are more likely to lie, cheat, and steal.
Other psychological factors of narcissistic personalities involve the thrill of taking something without paying, a sense of entitlement, a desire for control.
The trips to Davos, Mar-a-Lago, Washington, Panama, Vancouver for free hockey play-off tickets are all patterns of behaviour that fit into their desires to “help themselves ” to as much as they can while they are in a position to try to get away with it.
Add to Marlaina’s profile:
“I didn’t say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.”
What a shame she’s playing with house money, while poking the ex-CEO in her presser. I’d love to see put her house, pension and financial well being on the line, instead of our tax dollars. How many hip surgeries will go unfunded, when the time comes to settle with Ms Mentzelopoulus?
Hello DJC and fellow commenters. From the press conference with Danielle Smith and Adriana Lagrange, it appears that Danielle Smith is trying to portray the controversy as merely a cost comparison of the various contracts for private for-profit surgery companies. This is not what the controversy is about. It was a very neatly executed diversion from the facts that Ms Mentzelopoulos outlined in her statement of claim.
Considering the meddling by the UCP government in AHS, it seems to be beyond belief that AHS had sole conduct of all aspects of the contracts with private for-profit companies.
Danielle Smith’s continuous assignment of blame for everything related to contracts for services with for-profit companies seems, again, to be less than factual.
Lest we all forget…Adriana LaGrange was the minster of Education when the pandemic hit. Yes, she was cleared of any wrong-doing re: mask procurement, by the ever-so accommodating Ethics Commissioner, Marguerite Trussler. Yet here we are again. LaGrange is once again in the spotlight, this time as Minister of Health. This is her second portfolio in which she has been accused of shady shenanigans. I won’t be holding my breath, however, that anything will come of the inquiry. People like LaGrange and Smith know how to skirt the grey areas of the law. They irony…most rural voters will fall for the BS, hook, line and sinker.
Suzanne: This is just far too damning for that to happen. It’s far more complex, and we have not seen the end of this yet. The rural voters who support the UCP and Danielle Smith, simply can’t ignore what is going on. They won’t be able to do that.
Let’s be clear with the masks ; they were of extremely poor quality, and as such a lot of them were either not used or useless, and the province paid a massive premium for them over already available supplies from a reputable contractor.
They then REPEATED this scheme with the atabay Tylenol. Trussler can rule whatever she wants, this story stinks to high heaven.
I can remember retired doctors pointing out that this private for profit costs paid for by the government stupidity only works until these fools finally tell you that it’s costing the government too much money and the public will have to pay at least a good portion of it. With these fools giving away our oil royalties and corporate taxes there is no way they can afford to pay for it.I am not dumb enough to ignore the fact that our provincial debt recently increased by $8 billion, did this was private health care farce have something to do with that?