EDMONTON — This morning, new reporting from the Globe and Mail uncovered additional evidence surrounding the allegations of political interference into Alberta’s procurement process with for-profit surgical facilities.
Their article today states that: “Health Minister Adriana LaGrange stripped Alberta’s health authority of its power to negotiate contracts for private surgical facilities, according to a government directive, after the agency’s then-chief executive allegedly raised concerns internally about the prices in the contracts.”
“These are some extremely serious allegations coming out, and every day they seem to get worse. Evidence of a government directive from the Ministry of Health interfering in contracting decisions shows this government is willing to grievously overstep their authority in order to further their privatization agenda in our health care,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare. “Yet the Premier and the Health Minister have been concerningly quiet. They need to show they are taking these allegations seriously. The Premier needs to answer publicly to Albertans and respond to questions from the media.”
Days after the initial allegations broke, the Premier finally responded with an online statement over the weekend. In it, she stated that beyond writing to the Auditor General, she had also asked that an Alberta Health Services (AHS) internal review be completed as soon as possible, and that their findings be delivered directly to her, rather than released publicly as usual.
“The CEO and Board of Alberta Health Services have been fired, leaving the Deputy Minister of Health exclusively in charge of AHS. It is no longer an arm’s length entity from the Health Minister,” said Gallaway. “Under this context, how can Albertans have faith in any sort of internal AHS investigation when the Minister of Health remains in her role? The Health Minister clearly needs to step aside. We do not believe any proper independent investigations can happen unless she does.”
Since being elected, the government has pursued an aggressive privatization agenda, including signing secretive contracts with for-profit health care providers to expand their role throughout health care, in surgeries, labs, addictions care, food services, laundry, ambulance services and more.
“Under this government, Alberta has increasingly spent significant public health care dollars to subsidize the profits of private entities throughout our health care system,” said Gallaway. “At this point, Albertans cannot trust that it’s only surgical procurement that needs to be investigated. The Auditor General’s investigation should review the procurement processes for all contracts given to for-profit health care providers, and any concerning evidence should be shared with the RCMP immediately.”
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