EDMONTON — Yesterday, UCP MLAs voted to reject an extension on the Auditor General’s contract, while he is actively investigating major allegations of government corruption in Alberta’s private surgical contracts. It’s now unclear if Auditor General Doug Wylie will be able to complete his investigation and report into these corruption allegations before his term ends in April 2026.
“The government has repeatedly assured Albertans that a public inquiry into corruption allegations wasn’t needed because of other investigations under way. But now their MLAs have voted to end the contract of one of the people doing an investigation before he can finish his work,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “Albertans deserve full accountability and transparency as to how our public health care dollars have been spent. Instead, we’ve had a report from a government-controlled, limited third-party process, followed by the firing of our Auditor General in the middle of an investigation.”
Auditor General Doug Wylie has a strong track record when it comes to increasing awareness, accountability and transparency on health care issues in Alberta, including two important reports on Long-Term Care released in 2023. On top of the current investigation into corruption allegations, Albertans are anxiously awaiting the report into the government’s failed community labs contract with Dynalife. That report, launched in October 2023, is finally expected to be tabled very soon. It was initially expected in early 2024, but then faced delays due to struggles faced by the Auditor General's office in gathering the interviews and information required.
“Albertans deserve a fully empowered public inquiry with a wide mandate to call witnesses and look into the entirety of this government’s health care procurement processes and decisions. This is the only way Albertans can be assured we will get complete answers on the ongoing allegations of corruption,” said Gallaway. “There’s potentially hundreds of millions of our public health care dollars in question here. Without a public inquiry, how can Albertans have any faith that this government isn’t simply trying to sweep this scandal under the rug!? At this point anything less than a public inquiry is completely unacceptable.”
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