Latest news with #ex-Alberta
Calgary Herald
15-05-2025
- Health
- Calgary Herald
Alberta premier's ex-chief of staff sues former AHS CEO, newspaper over health contracting corruption allegations
Article content Premier Danielle Smith's former chief of staff has jumped into the fray over allegations of corruption in health care procurement, filing a $12-million lawsuit against ex-Alberta Health Services CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos and the Globe and Mail for what he claims are defamatory statements. Article content Article content Marshall Smith (no relation to the premier) filed a statement of claim in Edmonton Court of King's Bench Wednesday against the Globe, Mentzelopoulos and an unidentified person Smith claims is a former member of the AHS board of directors. Article content Article content While not a defendant in Mentzelopoulos's bombshell lawsuit, which alleges she was wrongfully dismissed for investigating alleged corruption in health-care contracting, Smith claims Mentzelopoulos and the Globe have portrayed him 'in the worst possible light.' Article content Article content 'The damage to Smith's professional reputation caused by Mentzelopoulos has resulted in Smith suffering emotional distress, stress, depression, anxiety, embarrassment, loss of reputation, humiliation and an inability to secure work in his chosen profession,' the statement of claim reads. Article content As someone who is not a party to Mentzelopoulos's initial lawsuit, her allegations about him are 'gratuitous, irrelevant and are unnecessary,' the claim adds. Article content 'Smith is not afforded the opportunity to respond to these false statements or to provide a statement of defence denying and responding to such false statements.' Article content Smith, who stepped down as the premier's chief of staff last fall after a tenure which often saw him as the public face of Alberta's addictions treatment policies, accused the defendants of inaccurately painting him as a 'corrupt' 'bully' who engaged in criminal activity. Article content Article content The claim calls the allegations against Smith 'malicious in nature and advanced in an attempt to knowingly bolster (Mentzelopoulos's) false narrative that she was terminated from AHS because she was investigating wrongdoing in respect of AHS's procurement of chartered surgical facilities.' Article content Article content Statements of claim contain allegations that have not been proven in court. Article content AHS and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange have denied wrongdoing, alleging in a statement of defence that Mentzelopoulos was incompetent and had become distracted by investigations they say had produced no results, at the expense of critical health-care reforms.
Calgary Herald
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Doug Ford says Carney should extend an olive branch to the West. Liberal strategists agree
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney could soon be facing a national unity crisis after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith lowered the bar for a referendum on the province's independence in 2026. Article content Article content Liberal insiders with ties to Alberta say this is a threat that Carney shouldn't take lightly. And Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters on Wednesday that he agrees. Article content Article content 'About two in 10 Albertans say routinely that they want to see the province separate from Canada,' says Dan Arnold, an ex-Alberta Liberal organizer who's now an executive with Pollara Strategic Insights. Article content Article content 'These people are in the minority, to be clear, but they're too numerous to be written off as a radical fringe.' Article content Arnold points to the grim numbers from Pollara's latest Western Identity Report, released in February. The report found that 55 per cent of Albertans feel that their province is being treated unfairly by the federal government. Article content Albertans were also the least pessimistic group anywhere in Canada about their province's prospects outside of confederation and the least opposed to joining the United States. Article content Arnold said the silver lining for Carney is that most Albertans have a gripe with Ottawa, not with Canada as a whole. Article content 'Albertans still identify strongly as Canadians,' said Arnold. 'Alberta separatism isn't identity-based in the same way as Quebec separatism.' Article content Article content Arnold also said that now is a good time for Carney to 'sell Canada' to disaffected Albertans, with national pride rising in the face of tariffs and annexation threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Article content Article content He noted that next month's G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., will give Carney a great opportunity to send a message of national unity to Albertans. Article content Carney reportedly gave Trump a hat and golf gear bearing the logo of the Kananaskis Country Golf Course as a gift during his visit to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Article content 'I said it's time that your government starts showing some love to Saskatchewan and Alberta (because) the last prime minister showed no love,' Ford told reporters in Toronto.
Vancouver Sun
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Vancouver Sun
Doug Ford says Carney should extend an olive branch to the West. Liberal strategists agree
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney could soon be facing a national unity crisis after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith lowered the bar for a referendum on the province's independence in 2026. Liberal insiders with ties to Alberta say this is a threat that Carney shouldn't take lightly. And Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters on Wednesday that he agrees. 'About two in 10 Albertans say routinely that they want to see the province separate from Canada,' says Dan Arnold, an ex-Alberta Liberal organizer who's now an executive with Pollara Strategic Insights . Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'These people are in the minority, to be clear, but they're too numerous to be written off as a radical fringe.' Arnold points to the grim numbers from Pollara's latest Western Identity Report, released in February . The report found that 55 per cent of Albertans feel that their province is being treated unfairly by the federal government. Albertans were also the least pessimistic group anywhere in Canada about their province's prospects outside of confederation and the least opposed to joining the United States. Arnold said the silver lining for Carney is that most Albertans have a gripe with Ottawa, not with Canada as a whole. 'Albertans still identify strongly as Canadians,' said Arnold. 'Alberta separatism isn't identity-based in the same way as Quebec separatism.' Arnold also said that now is a good time for Carney to 'sell Canada' to disaffected Albertans, with national pride rising in the face of tariffs and annexation threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. He noted that next month's G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta., will give Carney a great opportunity to send a message of national unity to Albertans. Carney reportedly gave Trump a hat bearing the logo of Kananaskis's local golf course as a gift during his visit to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Ford said Wednesday that he's personally told Carney to take a less confrontational approach to Alberta and the other western provinces than his Liberal predecessor Justin Trudeau. 'I said it's time that your government starts showing some love to Saskatchewan and Alberta (because) the last prime minister showed no love,' Ford told reporters in Toronto. Ford called on Carney to build more oil and gas pipelines and repeal Bill 69, which critics have called the 'no-new-pipelines' law . Calgary-based Liberal strategist Sabrina Grover said that Carney's outreach to Alberta can start with the more than 600,000 Albertans who marked 'Liberal' on their ballot in last week's federal election. 'The Liberals had their best showing in Alberta in years, if you look at the number of votes they won,' said Grover. 'That tells me that Carney already has hundreds of thousands of Albertans behind him… and those are the kinds of people that you want to mobilize and bring on your team.' Provincewide, the Liberals won 28 per cent of the popular vote, a double-digit improvement over the 15.5 per cent they won in the last federal election in 2021. Grover said that Carney can build even more goodwill with Albertans by listening attentively to their concerns, especially surrounding natural resource development. 'You've had that with (Carney's) scrapping of the carbon tax already… and I think there will be some give-and-take on things like the federal emissions cap and clean electricity regs,' said Grover. Grover added that Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc could be a huge asset for Carney on the national unity file, assuming he stays in the portfolio when Parliament resumes. 'Dominic LeBlanc has decades of intergovernmental experience and will be a great voice to be engaging with Alberta and the other provinces,' said Grover. LeBlanc's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the story. Carney, who grew up in Edmonton, launched his campaign for the Liberal leadership near his childhood home in the city's Laurier Heights neighbourhood . He brought up his upbringing in the province when asked on Tuesday about the possibility of an Alberta referendum. 'Canada is stronger when we work together,' Carney told reporters in Washington. 'As an Albertan, I firmly believe that.' 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