Former AHS head alleges Alberta Health Minister created false narrative over her firing

The former chief executive of Alberta’s health authority, in a court document, says Health Minister Adriana LaGrange has crafted a “false, vindictive, and malicious” narrative about her to distract from allegations of political interference in health contracts.

An 11-page document was filed on behalf of former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos in the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta on Thursday. It is an official response to the statements of defence filed last week by AHS and Ms. LaGrange, both of which allege Ms. Mentzelopoulos was terminated because of poor job performance, not her investigations into potential impropriety.

“The allegations, which Mentzelopoulos expressly denies, are a blatant, vindicative, malicious, and bad faith attempt to publicly smear Mentzelopoulos, damage her reputation and future employment prospects, and deflect from the substance of the allegations in the Statement of Claim,” the document states.

“Mentzelopoulos at all times carried out her duties and obligations with a view to the best interests of AHS.”

Premier Danielle Smith’s government has, for weeks, been grappling with allegations, contained in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s $1.7-million wrongful dismissal suit, of political meddling into procurement and contracting practices at AHS and the Ministry of Health. Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleges she was dismissed because of her probe into various AHS contracts, including Alberta’s $70-million deal for Turkish medication and deals for chartered surgical facilities.

The RCMP, Auditor-General and a former judge on behalf of the government are now investigating some of the allegations, none of which have been tested in court.

Ms. LaGrange, in her statement of defence, alleged the former CEO failed to fulfill her duties to advance the United Conservative government’s plan to divide AHS into four separate entities, claiming she “presented a dramatic tale and false narrative of political persecution” to obtain a bigger payout.

Ms. Mentzelopoulos denies the allegations and, in Thursday’s document, claims Ms. LaGrange was actually pleased with her work. She alleges that the Health Minister met with her on Dec. 2 last year to discuss the disaggregation of AHS and told Ms. Mentzelopoulos: “I think you’ve done some phenomenal things in Alberta Health Services, like honestly I really do.”

The former CEO argues that the responsibility for transitioning the health care system from a single health authority into four distinct organizations landed at the feet of Alberta Health, the government department, not AHS.

Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s responsibilities, the document states, involved navigating a budget shortfall while working on such tasks as minimizing health care service disruptions and reducing surgical backlogs. The government has also said that her dismissal was planned as part of its work to overhaul AHS, which Ms. Mentzelopoulos rejects.

Jessi Rampton, press secretary to Ms. LaGrange, said in a statement that the government has made its position clear in the statement of defence. She declined to comment further while the matter is before the courts.

Marshall Smith, the former chief of staff to the Premier and the architect of Alberta’s addiction strategy, who is not related to the Premier, is a key figure in Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s allegations.

In Thursday’s document, Ms. Mentzelopoulos alleges that Evan Romanow, the deputy minister of mental health and addictions, was worried that her investigation could potentially uncover issues connected to the ministry because of the involvement of Mr. Smith. Mr. Romanow was allegedly worried about political involvement in the development of Alberta’s addiction recovery communities.

“This is the thing that freaks me out. I definitely know Marshall was involved on that side, which you know, then makes me wonder about his integrity, or standing on anything else,” he allegedly told Ms. Mentzelopoulos, according to the court document.

Mr. Smith, in a statement to The Globe and Mail, said he intends to respond with legal action. “The matters that Athana Mentzelopoulos has raised in an attempt to purloin 1.7 Million dollars from the government are false, outrageous and defamatory,” he said.

Ms. Mentzelopoulos said she kept the AHS board updated on her probe into contracting and procurement. She was terminated from her role on Jan. 8 and the board was terminated on Jan. 31. She alleges the board never lost their confidence in her, despite allegations to the contrary by the government.

Ms. Mentzelopoulos said she told the board that one of her goals with the investigations was to determine whether AHS could make a case to scrape back the $49.2-million being held by MHCare Medical, the Edmonton-based company that facilitated the Turkish medication deal.

She also wanted to ensure that any new contracts for chartered surgical facilities could “withstand any future scrutiny given the issues that had now been discovered.”

A lawyer for MHCare did not acknowledge a request for comment, but has previously said the company was not involved in any wrongdoing.