Alberta premier responds to cabinet member’s request to move health minister

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says she asked her ministers for recommendations after reports that one of them called for the health minister to be moved to a different portfolio while corruption allegations are investigated.

Her statement during Your Province Your Premier, her phone-in radio program, came Saturday when she was asked to confirm whether Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie sent a memo asking for Adriana LaGrange to be moved to other jobs while the investigations are underway.

Smith replied, “If you want to get honest input, you have to be prepared to hear what people have to say,” adding that “not everyone agrees with Minister Guthrie.”

Smith’s government and Alberta’s auditor general are investigating the allegations, which centre around a wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed this week by the former head of Alberta Health Services, Athana Mentzelopoulos.

Mentzelopoulos, in her statement of claim, alleges LaGrange fought and ultimately fired her after she balked at signing off on excessively lucrative contracts between the government and private surgery clinics.

Smith told her radio audience Saturday that LaGrange has been removed from decision-making on the file, but that she’s doing “amazing and important work” on refocusing the health-care system and needs her to continue her work because the next six months are “crucial.”

“You can’t make a rash decision until you know if there’s any wrongdoing. Right now, we have allegations in a statement of claim asking for a bunch of money for a payout, and we have to put it in that context,” Smith said.

“Are the allegations, are they real? Is there wrongdoing? Is this a process issue? Is there something more? We don’t know the answers to that yet.”

While it’s not clear when the report will be completed, Smith says it could take 4-6 months after speaking with legal professionals.

“Obviously, we want to see it resolved, so we keep on with the charter surgical centers procurement process and to restore confidence in in the public that these processes are working,” she said,

“So I hope it doesn’t drag on any longer than that.”

However, Smith says she will “have more to say” about who will work on the file next week.

On Friday, the CBC reported that it had obtained a memo where Guthrie said LaGrange and the top civil servant in health, Andre Tremblay, should be moved to other jobs while the scandal is investigated.

Guthrie’s email, reportedly sent to his cabinet colleagues Thursday, said the gravity of the allegations requires Tremblay to be moved, LaGrange shifted to another cabinet portfolio, and the RCMP notified if there are potential concerns of criminal behaviour.

The Canadian Press has not seen Guthrie’s email but asked Smith’s office about it. In an emailed statement Friday, her office didn’t challenge the veracity of the memo but backed LaGrange.

Mentzelopoulos’s claims have not been tested in court.

Reached for comment Friday, LaGrange’s spokesperson Jessi Rampton said the minister had no comment and referred to a previous statement LaGrange issued this week in which she said many of the allegations are false while others needed to be looked into.

Critics, including the Opposition NDP, have called for LaGrange to be fired.

Three other cabinet ministers who faced questions from reporters earlier this week all said they supported LaGrange staying in the health role while the allegations are reviewed.

With files from Alejandro Melgar