(Canadian Press)

By rdnewsNOW staff

NENSHI: "ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING"

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange named in $1.7 million lawsuit by former AHS CEO

Feb 13, 2025 | 11:22 AM

Former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos is suing the province, as well as health minister Adriana LaGrange.

In the statement of claim filed in court by Mentzelopoulos, she alleges she was fired for looking into high-level government interference and overpays on multimillion-dollar contracts.

She also accuses LaGrange, who is also MLA for Red Deer-North, of twice trying to shut down an investigation into questionable deals and conflicts of interest before engineering what she describes as her illegal dismissal last month.

She alleges LaGrange signed off on a fee structure that represents “significant” overpays for surgery contracts.

The allegations have not been proven in court and a statement of defence has not yet been filed.

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In a post Tuesday evening to social media platform X, LaGrange said many of the allegations and claims made against her and AHS are false, “while others will need to be investigated further as part of the auditor general’s work and the government’s internal review of this matter.”

“As I am a named defendant in this claim, I will be filing a detailed statement of defence in short order. I very much look forward to doing so,” she said.

“The recent changes to the leadership structure of AHS were made in order to ensure a smooth transition without impacting patient services as AHS is transformed from Alberta’s health care system administrator to being solely a provider of health care services under Alberta’s new Acute Care Agency.

“The changes had nothing to do with any investigations into chartered surgical facilities or other procurement by AHS as alleged. Our government is firm in our belief that concerns related to procurement processes must be reviewed and investigated thoroughly to identify any potential wrongdoing or procurement process deficiencies. I therefore look forward to the findings of the auditor general and internal government review.”

Earlier in the day Wednesday, before the lawsuit was made public, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said LaGrange has her full support.

Smith made the comment in response to questions from reporters while in Washington, D.C. with other premiers to lobby against U.S. tariffs.

She said she supports a review being done by Alberta’s auditor general and that government documents are being made available.

Meanwhile, in a statement made Thursday, Alberta New Democrats leader, Naheed Nenshi, called for LaGrange to be fired.

He also called the claims made in Mentzelopoulos’s statement, “absolutely shocking.”

“If these claims are true, this is the worst scandal and biggest cover-up in Alberta’s history. Today, the Premier must fire the Health Minister,” he said.

“There is no precedent for these allegations. The former AHS CEO alleges that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, with the Premier’s office aware of the matter, directed the AHS Board to fire her. When the board refused, the Minister bypassed their authority and had her Deputy Minister terminate her instead.

“Minister LaGrange and her office are referenced 24 times in the statement of claim. The Premier, her senior staff, officials and office are referenced 11 times. This would be unbelievable political interference if true. This is not how democracies function. And this would be corrupt.

“We cannot negotiate with other countries while being led by a banana republic.”

Nenshi said that after LaGrange is fired, Smith should step aside while the RCMP, Auditor General and the Ethics Commissioner investigate.

Said Nenshi: “She [Smith] can’t pretend she didn’t know for nearly a year what was happening until she read it in the paper.”

The full statement of claim by Mentzelopoulos, supplied by the Alberta NDP, can be read below:

(with files from The Canadian Press)

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