Smith admits she knew about concerns with AHS contracts

The story is changing. Danielle Smith knew, insert surprised pikachu here.

Admittedly, I preferred it when Danielle Smith was just claiming to be incompetent; that had flexibility for me as a political observer and a writer of things.

I could have gone on, and on, and on, about how Danielle Smith preferred to be known as the ignorant leader who knew nothing, was told nothing, and asked nothing.

I had fun with that.

Ms. Smith has apparently decided that she doesn’t want to be known as the Premier who knew nothing.

Now, she just wants to be a liar.

“Danielle Smith lies” is old news.

It’s bland; it has no bite.

A politician lies, and a grifter gets a sweet government contract with “contingencies”.

Yawn.

On Wednesday afternoon, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith faced reporters with Health Minister Adriana LaGrange.

She admits she knew there were concerns being raised from AHS back in the fall, despite her previous claim that she found out when the public did, in February.

The Premier wanted to reiterate a point she made last week: “I was not involved in these procurement decisions, I had nothing to do with the process decisions, or the implementation. My actions were straightforward, the government made a policy decision…”

Oh, the “government” made decisions.

Whose “government” was that, Premier? Was it your “government”, Premier?

Is that why she’s protecting her Health Minister? Because her Health Minister didn’t go rogue and extend a contract that the AHS CEO alleged needed review?

Did the “government” decide to fire Ms. Mentzelopolous and the AHS board, too?

Because, last week, the Premier wasn’t talking about what the “government” did; she was still covering her own ass.

“As Premier, I was not involved in any wrongdoing,” she said on February 8, via a social media post.

She also said she found out about it while reading the news, just like everyone else, so maybe the entire statement was a lie.

Danielle Smith doesn’t know why hundreds of millions have been paid out to the guy she ended up at a hockey game in Vancouver with.

She thought free stuff was a perk of being in power.

“Look, I wanted to support the team and the people who invited me wanted me to be there to support the team as well,” she said.

I’m sure they did, Premier.

Maybe they wanted to make sure “the government” remembered them when their contracts needed renewing.

Maybe they were putting “contingencies” in place so they didn’t have to worry about “terms” or “rates” on their contracts.

While in Washington, the Premier was asked “when did you first become aware of contract concerns at AHS, and do you think the RCMP should be called in?”

The Premier responded that she was glad the Auditor General was looking into it and then she doubled down on the social media post she (or her lawyers via her communications staff) wrote, saying, “I first became aware of them when I saw the, uh, newspaper reporting on them.”

She admitted at the February 19 press conference with Adriana LaGrange that she was made aware in the fall.

According to Ms. Mentzelopolous’ statement, the Premier’s Deputy Minister met with Ms. Mentzelopolous on October 4 wherein Ms. Mentzelopolous allegedly aired her concerns about political interference from Marshall Smith, the Premier’s Chief of Staff, regarding a contract for Alberta Surgical Group.

Mr. Smith (no relation) resigned just a few days later, on October 8.

Within days, the Health Minister signed a Ministerial Order to approve a contract for Alberta Surgical Group; the same one that Ms. Mentzelopolous said needed review.

To a political observer, it almost seems as if a “contingency” disappeared.

The Premier says wait times have come down.

Yeah, that happens when you actually pay for surgeries, Premier.

AHS “leadership” refused to fund surgeries at the Royal Alexandra Hospital last year. They were asking for $240,000 and were told to find a “revenue neutral” solution.

Guess they didn’t have the same “contingencies” chartered surgical facilities get when their business partner showers Cabinet Ministers, and the Premier, and her staff, with gifts.

Then again, maybe those “contingencies” are UCP staffers.

Or maybe they’re in the UCP’s Executive Council.

Maybe they’re running AHS now.

The Premier is asking for an “expedited” review from the Auditor General.

The Official Opposition is asking for resignations.

The Infrastructure Minister is asking for Minister LaGrange to be moved to another portfolio and her former Deputy Minister to be removed entirely.

Albertans deserve a public inquiry before any other “contingencies” disappear.

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