Former infrastructure minister Peter Guthrie has continued to peel back layers of the health-care contract scandal this week in the Alberta legislature.
Guthrie has been sharply critical of the government's handling of the controversy during question period and has tabled a series of documents aimed at improving transparency. These include a short write-up and handwritten notes he prepared ahead of a Feb. 19 cabinet meeting.
Previously, Guthrie accused Health Minister Adriana LaGrange and Premier Danielle Smith of misleading a cabinet health committee, which voted in late January to dismiss the Alberta Health Services board.
He has continued to question the motive behind the board’s dismissal and has pressed for a judicial review. He has also called for continued reliance on the RCMP and the auditor general’s office in the investigation.
On April 29, Guthrie rose in the house to question the firing of the AHS board, which he said had been “hand-picked” by Smith.
“Mr. Speaker, given the AHS board fully supported their CEO and her probe into potential corruption, and given they backed their investigations into both Tylenol and surgical facilities, and given this UCP government issued a directive to halt those inquiries, and given the AHS board received advice from four independent lawyers to turn over all documents to the AG and police, and given they were terminated immediately after submitting those records to the premier — why not come clean as to why you really needed to fire the board?” Guthrie said.
He also listed a series of specific dates related to the timeline of the board’s dismissal.
On Tuesday, Guthrie tabled a third set of notes, following two he submitted the previous day. These included records from a health cabinet committee meeting where LaGrange reportedly urged the committee to remove the AHS board.
His notes reflected growing concerns about measures taken and the rationale for the board’s dismissal. That concern ultimately led to his resignation from cabinet after the Feb. 19 meeting.
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Justice Minister Mickey Emery said the government is fully cooperating with the auditor general’s investigation and is not prepared to speculate on the outcome.
“We’re going to let that process unfold. We’re going to wait to see what the results of the investigation are, and if necessary, we’d be happy to take action,” Emery said.