Naheed Nenshi calls for Health Minister LaGrange to be fired over AHS contracts scandal
Posted February 13, 2025 12:14 pm.
Last Updated February 14, 2025 9:14 am.
The Alberta NDP leader says someone must pay the price for the AHS medical contracts scandal, and he’s pointing the finger firmly at the province’s health minster.
Naheed Nenshi is calling for Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to be fired given new allegations of high-level corruption in the UCP government.
LATEST: Smith says she welcomes investigation into AHS scandal; former CEO seeks $1.7M in lawsuit
The allegations, which have not been proven in court, are contained in a $1.7 million wrongful dismissal lawsuit filed this week by Athana Mentzelopoulos, which CityNews obtained. Mentzelopoulos was in charge of all Alberta front-line health services for a year in 2024 before being fired last month.
Mentzelopoulos details claims of high-level arm-twisting and conflicts of interest surrounding multimillion-dollar deals for health products and surgical procedures.
Statement of Claim (Mentzelopoulos) by CityNewsToronto on Scribd
She says she was dismissed Jan. 8 for probing the alleged questionable deal-making involving government officials as high up as the premier’s office, and says LaGrange twice tried to stop her investigation before working to get her fired.
LaGrange has said many of the allegations are false. In a social media post Wednesday, the Alberta health minister said she will be filing a statement “in short order.”
Nenshi says if the claims made this week in the lawsuit are true, it would be the worst scandal and coverup in Alberta’s history.
“There is no precedent for these allegations,” Nenshi said in a statement Thursday. “The former AHS CEO alleges that Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, with the premier’s office aware of the matter, directed the AHS board to fire her. When the board refused, the minister bypassed their authority and had her deputy minister terminate her instead.
“Minister LaGrange and her office are referenced 24 times in the statement of claim. The premier, her senior staff, officials and office are referenced 11 times.”
There have also been allegations surrounding the Alberta premier’s chief of staff, suggesting he was involved.
“This would be unbelievable political interference if true,” Nenshi continued. “This is not how democracies function. And this would be corrupt.”
The Alberta NDP leader had previously called on all people named in the allegations, including Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, LaGrange, and interim AHS president and CEO Andre Tremblay, to step aside from their roles during an investigation.
Smith says she first learned of the allegations when a report was published in the Globe and Mail. The Alberta premier also said this week LaGrange has her full confidence.
“After Danielle Smith fires the health minister, she should step aside while the RCMP, the auditor general and the ethics commissioner investigate this scandal of her own making. She can’t pretend she didn’t know for nearly a year what was happening until she read it in the paper.”
–With files from Lauryn Heintz, Michael Ranger and The Canadian Press
