Alberta's "No Collusion, No Collusion" Moment Has Arrived

While we've been distracted by trade wars and Buy Canadian policies, Alberta has been cooking up a procurement scandal so brazen it makes your average conflict of interest look like a parking ticket. The latest bombshell has just dropped, and it's a doozy.

ALBERTA INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER RESIGNS OVER PROCUREMENT PRACTICES

Cabinet Member Exits Citing System-Wide Concerns

Source: Global News | Date: April 30, 2025

The Bombshell: Alberta Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie has resigned from cabinet, explicitly citing concerns over "the Government of Alberta's procurement practices across all departments." This dramatically escalates what was already a rapidly unfolding scandal, suggesting the issues extend far beyond healthcare alone.

What It Means:

• Premier Smith has now promised investigations by both the Auditor General and an independent third party

• The resignation appears linked to former Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos's $1.7M wrongful dismissal lawsuit

• All Alberta government contracts now face heightened scrutiny during this system-wide review

Between Us: When your Infrastructure Minister resigns because procurement practices don't pass "the smell test," you know you're dealing with something truly rancid. Guthrie's resignation letter specifically mentioning "procurement practices across all departments" suggests this scandal has tentacles reaching into every corner of Alberta's government spending. But how did we get here? Let's dive into the scandal that's been brewing for months.

SCANDAL DEEP DIVE: ALBERTA'S PROCUREMENT MELTDOWN EXPLAINED

Key Facts Behind Alberta's "No Collusion" Scandal

Origins and Cost Inflation (2019-2022)

• Alberta Surgical Initiative (ASI): Launched in 2019 with stated goal to reduce wait times through private contracting

• Contradictory Results: University of Alberta report found 9 of 11 surgical procedures by private contractors had higher costs AND longer wait times than public facilities

• Cost Premium: Private surgical contracts cost 18-37% above public facility rates for identical procedures

• Financial Scale: $614M in AHS contracts with MHCare Medical Holding Corporation (primary contractor at center of scandal) between 2020-2023

• Human Impact: 80,000+ Albertans remain on surgical waitlists during scandal

Turkish Medication Procurement Failure (2022)

• Direct Order: AHS directed to secure Turkish ibuprofen and acetaminophen with ministry funding guarantee

• Upfront Payment: $75M paid in advance for pediatric medications

• Delivery Failure: Only 30% of ordered medication ever delivered

• Safety Issues: Delivered medications later withdrawn due to safety concerns

• Process Bypass: Procurement executed under ministerial directive, bypassing standard due diligence

Ministerial Interference (2023)

• Direct Intervention: Health minister issued explicit orders to AHS to extend/modify private clinic contracts

• Price Setting: Ministerial directives specified surgery volumes and prices (up to $10,500 per knee/shoulder surgery)

• Control Consolidation: Minister authorized to "direct and lead" any negotiations with chartered surgical facilities

• Power Transfer: Contracting, procurement, and supply management functions transferred from AHS to Alberta Health

• Suspicious Timing: Health Contracting Secretariat (created 2020 to provide independent oversight) mysteriously decommissioned in mid-2023 just as questionable contracts were being renewed and expanded

Crisis Timeline (2025)

Evidence of Impropriety

• Gift Acceptance: Government officials received NHL luxury box tickets from contractor MHCare

• Conflict of Interest: AHS procurement official used MHCare email during contract negotiations

• Political Pressure: Premier's office allegedly forced AHS to approve contracts despite cost concerns

• Directive Paper Trail: Written ministerial orders document interference in normal procurement processes

• Public Contradiction: Official statements claimed efficiency gains while internal documents showed opposite

Current Consequences

• Contract Freeze: All agreements with ASG, MHCare, and related firms suspended

• Legal Action: Former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos filed $1.7M wrongful dismissal lawsuit claiming she was fired for refusing to approve questionable contracts and was scheduled to meet with Auditor General two days after her termination

• Criminal Investigation: Active RCMP probe into procurement fraud and corruption

• System Restructuring: AHS being replaced by four new agencies

• Market Impact: 23% decline in sole-source contracts since February 2025

• Public Confidence: 42% of Albertans distrust health procurement integrity (April 2025 poll)

Our Take: This scandal represents the perfect storm of political interference and procurement corruption. The evidence shows a systematic effort to bypass normal procurement controls, resulting in higher costs, worse service, and the diversion of millions in taxpayer dollars. The real victims? The 80,000+ Albertans still waiting for surgeries while connected contractors cashed in.

FEDS GET THE LAST LAUGH: COMPETITION BUREAU LAUNCHES COLLUSION DETECTION TOOL

Federal Agency's Timing Couldn't Be More Perfect

Source: Competition Bureau | Date: April 30, 2025

The Impeccable Timing: On the very same day Alberta's Infrastructure Minister resigned over procurement concerns, the Competition Bureau unveiled a free, interactive online tool designed to help procurement officers identify collusion risks. The tool produces a risk score based on project specifics and offers tailored best practices to mitigate those risks.

Between Us: You couldn't script better timing if you tried. As Alberta's government faces multiple investigations into procurement corruption, the federal Competition Bureau swoops in with a "how not to get caught in procurement scandals" tool. It's like watching someone install a security system while the burglars are still in the house.

One can only imagine the Competition Bureau officials watching the Alberta news with a knowing smile as they pressed the "publish" button on their collusion detection tool. If only they'd released it a few years earlier – maybe those 80,000 Albertans would have their surgeries by now, and taxpayers wouldn't be out millions on Turkish medications that never arrived.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Alberta's procurement scandal represents a perfect storm of political interference, inflated costs, questionable relationships, and outright corruption. When ministers start directly managing contract negotiations while accepting gifts from the same contractors, the result is predictable: higher costs, worse service, and eventually, criminal investigations.

As we watch the dominoes fall in Alberta, one thing is clear: procurement should be boring, methodical, and transparent. When it becomes exciting enough to make headlines, something has gone terribly wrong.

The question now isn't whether heads will roll—they already are—but how many more resignations and investigations we'll see before this saga concludes. And perhaps, whether the Competition Bureau's new tool will help prevent the next "no collusion, no collusion" scandal before it starts.