United Conservative Party expels MLA who pushed for public probe of health contracting | CBC News (2025)

An MLA and former minister just removed from the United Conservative Party caucus alleges the health minister— and possibly thepremier— withheld information from cabinet ministers decidingthe fate of the Alberta Health Services board of directors.

UCP caucus members voted Wednesday morning to expel Airdrie-Cochrane MLA Peter Guthrie, who will now sit as an independent MLA.

Inside the legislative chamber on Wednesday, Guthrietabled to the clerk a February 25, 2025, letterthat he had sent to Premier Danielle Smith on the day he resigned from cabinet as infrastructure minister.

In the letter, he said ministers attending a health cabinet committee meeting on Jan. 30, 2025, were "deliberately misled," which led to the government firing AHS board members the next day. He said he could not abide those actions.

"If we can normalize such deception in government business practices, what other indiscretions may emerge?" Guthrie's letter says.

Guthrie's allegations come after former CEO of Alberta Health ServicesAthana Mentzelopoulosfiled a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against the health authority and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

Mentzelopoulos's lawsuit allegesshe was fired in part because she'd launched an investigation and forensic audit into some purchasing contracts and was reassessing deals she had concluded were overpriced, which she claims had links to government officials.

The auditor general has launched a probe into the allegations, and the government appointed a former Manitoba judge to investigate any irregularities in AHS procurement. Guthrie told reportersWednesday that he has made a submission to the auditor general as part of the investigation.

Both LaGrange and AHS have denied Menzelopoulos's allegations. LaGrange said in a statement of defence the former CEO wasn't fulfilling her mandate to restructure the delivery of health care in Alberta. And AHS alleged Menzelopoulos was seeking a larger severance payment.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Ousted UCP member feltmisled

Mentzelopoulos's rebuttal to the statements of defence saysan AHS board member was concerned enough about herfindings in December 2024 that they recommendedshe take the informationto the RCMP. The RCMP has since confirmed it is investigating.

Then-deputy health minister Andre Tremblay fired Mentzelopoulos on January 8.

WATCH | Peter Guthrie expelled from UCP caucus:

LaGrange fired the AHS board members on Jan. 31 and replaced the board with Tremblay as official administrator.

On Feb. 12,Smith said the first she heard of allegations of wrongdoing in health contracting was in early February reporting by the Globe and Mail.

Guthrie's Feb. 25 letter to the premier alleges that LaGrange, and possiblySmith, knew about procurement issues with AHS and Alberta Health in January, before the AHS board was fired, "yet you deliberately misled our reduced quorum Health Cabinet Committee (HPGCC) on January 30th," the letter said.

"This deception resulted in the dismissal of the AHS board."

Opposition House leader Christina Gray questioned the premier about Guthrie's letter at the end of question period in the legislature on Wednesday.

In response, Smith said the government knew the former AHS CEO had claimed different private surgical contractors were being paid different prices for the same work.

"That is the very heart of why it is we've asked judge (Raymond) Wyant and the auditor general to take a look at why that is," Smith said. "Why does Clearpoint have a contract for $3,700 per night, but Alberta Surgical Group has a contract for $8,300, both of which actually are less than what AHS charges? Absolutely. That's why we're getting to the bottom of this."

The premier also said there was "nothing new" in Guthrie's letter.

Smithreferred reportersto her comments in question period.

LaGrange did not answer questions about the matter inside the legislative chamber.

In response to emailed questions, Smith's press secretary Sam Blackett said the Jan. 30 meeting was to enable the appointment of an interim AHS CEO and an official administrator for AHS.

"There was no information withheld from the HPGCC relevant to this issue," he said.

Blackett's statement said the provincebecame aware of Mentzelopoulos's concerns in summer 2024 but that she did not provide substantive evidence to support her allegations.

A gradual separation

Guthrie, who was first elected as a UCP MLA in 2019, had been serving as infrastructure minister since June 2023.

He had pressuredhis government to take action within days ofMentzelopoulos's allegations surfacing. In February, he urged the premier to move LaGrange out of the health portfolio and hand any potentially criminal matters over to the RCMP, according to a memo obtained by CBC News.

About two weeks later, Guthrie resigned from cabinet, citing concern about the government's procurement practices.

Although he sat on the party's backbench, Guthrie confirmed in March he had been barred from attending party caucus meetings since Feb. 26.

On Monday, MLAs voted on an NDP motion in the legislature to call a public inquiry into allegations around health procurement. Guthrie was the only UCP member to vote in favour, after earlier saying public servants were being muzzled in various ongoing probes.

UCP caucus members met in Edmonton on Wednesday morning, and voted to remove Guthrie from caucus, party whip Shane Getson told reporters.

"He vocalized that he was diametrically opposed to the route that we're going andthat was the decision," Getson said of Guthrie.

The whip said it's OKfor an MLA to disagree with the direction the party was going, as long as they express those concerns internally.

In a news release, the UCP caucus said Guthrie disagreed with colleagues that they should await the results of investigations by the auditor general or Wyant before taking any more action.

Guthrie told reporters that more than 60 per cent of caucus members voted to remove him. He said criticizing the government comes at a cost.

"I was asking for openness, transparency, honesty, and instead of embracing that . . . the government has done everything that it can to impede processes," he said.

Guthrie also accused the majority of his former caucus colleagues of turning a blind eye to the allegations. He said most of them have not read the court documents filed in Mentzelopoulos's lawsuit.

Getson denied UCP MLAsaren'tpaying attention to the details of the case.

Guthrie will join former UCP MLA Scott Sinclair, who has been sitting as an independent since March, after publicly criticizing the government's 2025-26 budget.

Sinclair also voted in favour of the motion calling for a public inquiry, and said he supports Guthrie.

He told reporters on Wednesday he was disappointed in the premier and his former colleagues.

"It takes a lot of courage and integrity to be able to think about his position," Sinclair said. "Giving up a cabinet position in this world we live in, is extremely, extremely courageous."

NDP leader Naheed Nenshi saidSmith isn't listening to elected members and keeps them in the dark.

"When you treat your caucus members like mushrooms, you might find a poison one," he said.