Former Alberta Health Services (AHS) CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos has responded to the Alberta Government’s statement of defence in her wrongful dismissal suit with a briskly argued denial that lousy job performance had anything to do with why she was fired.
The government’s lame response to reporters’ questions about situations described in Mentzelopoulos’s rebuttal document at an unrelated news conference? We have nothing to say, it’s all before the courts. Also, we’re about to file our own counter-counter-attack. So scram, reporters!
Meanwhile, if you think Alberta politics are wild now, just wait!
Premier Danielle Smith’s threat to engineer the mother of all national unity crises if the next prime minister won’t accede to her Top Nine list of favours to Big Oil, which she published immediately after her chilly meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney Thursday, has the potential to turn into a dangerous gong show.
Then there are the latest revelations by The Globe and Mail in the dodgy contracts scandal, which continues to look worse almost by the day, that is closely tied to the circumstances of the legal battle between Mentzelopoulos and the Government of Alberta.
Oh, and Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault, pushed out of cabinet last fall over disputed claims of Indigenous ancestry, has finally thrown in the towel after weeks of insisting he was going to run again in his Edmonton Centre riding and presumably take the party ship down with him.
So let’s tackle these significant developments one at a time.
Part I – Ms. Mentzelopoulus returns fire
Mentzelopoulos’s rebuttal of statements of defence by Health Minister Adriana LaGrange and the Government of Alberta on March 13 and 14 made in response to the former CEO’s $1.7-million wrongful dismissal lawsuit argues vigorously that most of the government’s claims are bunk, introduces detailed recollections of conversations with government officials, and does not mince words about her perception of the government’s conduct.
“The false, vindictive, and malicious allegations in the Defences have been compounded by recent false public statements about Mentzelopoulos made by Premier Danielle Smith, and are consistent with recent comments made by Premier Smith’s former Chief of Staff, Marshall Smith, who has told people that he intends to ensure that Mentzelopoulos ‘never works again in Canada,’” an early paragraph of the document says.
The statement opens with a quote from a government press release published on Jan. 8, the day Mentzelopoulos was fired, indicating the government was “deeply grateful” for her work.
Yet since then, the statement continues, the government’s court documents “are filled with completely unfounded, entirely fictitious, malicious and bad faith allegations about Mentzelopoulos and her performance while CEO and President of AHS. The allegations, which Mentzelopoulos expressly denies, are a blatant, vindicative,* malicious, and bad faith attempt to publicly smear Mentzelopoulos, damage her reputation and future employment prospects, and deflect from the substance of the allegations in the Statement of Claim.”
Naturally, it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge that nothing said in Mentzelopoulos’s filings or those of the government have been proved in court. Nevertheless, this sets the tone for what is to come in the remaining pages of the document filed Thursday with the Edmonton Court of King’s Bench.
It is larded with many quotes that suggest Mentzelopoulos kept detailed notes of her conversations with government officials. It makes for spicy reading.
Mentzelopoulos vigorously disputed the government’s claim the AHS board, before it too was fired, had lost confidence in her work, and that was the reason she was dismissed.
“The Board had confidence in Mentzelopoulos throughout her work at AHS, and contrary to the false allegations in the Defences, the Board did not lose confidence in her at any time,” the statement says, citing words of praise from LaGrange only a month before the CEO was fired.
“The AHS Board did not approve this action or pass any motion to authorize it,” the document continues. Deputy Health Minister Andre Tremblay “had no lawful authority to terminate Mentzelopoulos but did so anyway on instructions from LaGrange.”
And by the way, Mentzelopoulos denied she ever uses the word “twat,” as alleged by the government. However, the statement says, she “understands that a complaint was submitted in 2024 regarding (former) Deputy Minister Tremblay’s use of a similar, but more derogatory, term in respect of a female employed by the Government, and she assumes that whomever provided information for the LaGrange Defence must have misunderstood the information they received around that allegation …”
As noted, at yesterday’s news conference, LaGrange and Smith, had nothing to say in response.
Part II – Fair Deal Panel redux
Grilled by reporters at that news conference yesterday about her social media threat Thursday the next prime minister of Canada has six months to agree to her nine non-negotiable demands or she’d cause “an unprecedented national unity crisis,” Premier Smith said what she has in mind a remake of former United Conservative Party premier Jason Kenney’s lame 2019 “fair deal panel.”
It’s easy to laugh this off. Kenney’s effort was performative and amounted to nothing. But we can’t rule out the possibility that the 51st staters and MAGA enthusiasts that Smith relies on for advice might actually try to use the new panel to set the stage for a separation referendum or, worse, a unilateral declaration of independence.
Given the UCP’s incompetence at actually governing, the rising hostility to Smith’s toadying to MAGA leaders south of the international border, and the legitimate concerns about what could happen to our pensions, passports, and public health care in the event the premier manages to gin up a unity crisis on behalf of Big Oil, I would suggest the chances of “social disorder” at any upcoming panel meetings is quite significant.
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi dismissed the premier’s behaviour, saying “it’s juvenile, it’s childish, and it’s not very bright,” which is fair on all counts, but downplays the very real dangers of what the premier is proposing, given her history and the lunatics running the asylum on the other side of the world’s longest undefended border.
Whether or not the NDP leader suggested Smith should call a referendum now and quit if it fails remains an open question, given the sources for this tidbit are a right-wing website and the premier herself at yesterday’s newser.
I would suggest Smith is not someone who should be dared to do dangerous stuff, because she just might, although it would be out of character for her to resign if it blew up in her face.
Part III – CorruptCare Scandal continues to boil over
Thanks to the reporting of Globe and Mail reporters Carrie Tait and Alanna Smith, the dodgy contracts affair – which the NDP has dubbed the CorruptCare Scandal – continues at a fast boil.
On Thursday the journalistic pair reported that the UCP Government chose the riskiest and most expensive option to buy children’s pain medication from a Turkish company in 2022, “despite warnings that the province could be left on the hook for a product that would no longer be needed or would not be approved.”
This is entirely on brand for Premier Smith and the UCP, since the goal of the entire project seems to have been to own the Libs and undermine former prime minister Justin Trudeau. So the $70-million-plus they pissed away on this nonsense would have seemed like a good investment to them for all the wrong reasons.
Yesterday Tait and Smith reported that the government sent the AHS Board packing the day before it was supposed to receive a report from investigators “examining whether some of its business deals were subject to ‘improper activity.’”
On its face, this circumstance smacks of coverup, and the stream of stories from the Globe reporters leaves the strong impression the Smith Government has plenty to cover up.
Part IV – So long, Randy Boissonnault
It was pretty obvious after he was pushed out of Trudeau’s cabinet last fall that Boissonnault’s political career was going to end soon one way or another.
Whether his announcement on social media that he wouldn’t be seeking re-election was the result of a push or a jump, at least it saved him from an ignominious third-place finish come election day in a riding that can be pretty good for the Liberals.
“After conversations with my family, my friends, and my team, I have decided that I will not be a candidate in the next federal election,” he wrote.
This reopens speculation, I suppose, that Prime Minister Carney might run there – the Edmonton homeboy just might win, although it would be no sure thing, and it would still make it difficult for him to campaign where he can be most effective for the Liberals, in the Toronto region and nearby.
It also set off a buzz that Edmonton Mayor and former Liberal cabinet minister Amarjeet Sohi, who is clearly contemplating a return to federal politics, might run there instead of Edmonton-Southeast, in his old stomping grounds and also a riding in need of a sound Liberal candidate.
Well, we’ll know soon who’s going to run there if an election is called tomorrow, as now appears to be widely assumed.
“For many, this decision will be a surprise, or even a shock,” Boissonnault also said. The most shocked, of course, may be NDP candidate Trisha Estabrooks, who will probably lose some voters back to the Liberals, no matter who they choose as a candidate, now that Boissonnault has stepped out.
Part V – Eeeeeew! Is Nothing Sacred?
Local media is reporting that someone has smeared poop on Wayne Gretzky’s statue in downtown Edmonton. Edmonton!
It would seem The Great One’s reputation has suffered somewhat from his bromance with U.S. President Donald Trump. Even in Edmonton!
Is nothing sacred? Whatever would Jason Kenney, defender of statues, say?
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
