EDMONTON — Earlier today, the government announced that effective immediately, the entire Alberta Health Services (AHS) board has been dismissed, and that Andre Tremblay, recently-appointed interim president and CEO of AHS, has taken on the role of official administrator in place of the board of directors. This is the second time Premier Smith has dismissed the AHS board since taking office in 2022.
“Another Friday afternoon, another attempt by this government to quietly slip health care news past Albertans,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “Instead of creating an expensive revolving door of leadership at the top of our health care system and agencies, the government should be laser-focused on a workforce plan for the frontlines, where a strategy for retention and recruitment of skilled health professionals is desperately needed.”
Earlier this month, Athana Mentzelopoulos was replaced as AHS CEO just 1 year and 32 days into her contract, a move that cost Alberta taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in severance. Since being elected Premier, Danielle Smith has frequently replaced Alberta Health Services senior leadership as her government continues to roll out their chaotic restructuring plan for health care in our province. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year alone, Alberta racked up $9.5-million in severance owed to various healthcare leadership appointees.
“This pattern of frequently replacing boards, CEOs, administrators and other senior leadership roles in health care is creating chaos and costing Albertans, while ignoring the real issues in our health care system,” said Gallaway. “This is a massive amount of time, money and energy that would be better spent bolstering frontline health care and ensuring that workers are being paid fairly. Our government needs to stop their agenda of destruction of our public health care and instead focus on rebuilding our public system to ensure Albertans have access to the care they need when they need it.”
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