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'This is not about where you are on the political spectrum, left or right. This is about doing the right thing'
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By Don Braid • Calgary Herald
Published Apr 15, 2025
Last updated Apr 17, 2025
4 minute read
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Former Infrastructure Minister Peter Guthrie was ejected from the UCP caucus Wednesday, but he did not go quietly.
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After the caucus vote, for which he was not present, Guthrie tabled in the legislature his letter of resignation from cabinet, sent to Premier Danielle Smith on Feb. 25.
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Such communications are regarded as top secret. Once tabled, however, they’re public business.
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This one’s a stunner that brought an immediate, heated denial from the premier’s office.
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Guthrie said he had voiced concerns to cabinet about health contract issues. He accused Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, and by implication the premier, of deception.
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“At cabinet on Wednesday,” Guthrie wrote, “it became clear that the Minister of Health, and possibly even you premier, had knowledge of procurement issues involving AH (Alberta Health) and AHS, yet you deliberately misled our reduced quorum Health Cabinet committee (HPGCC) on Jan. 20.
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“This deception resulted in the dismissal of the AHS board.”
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The board was fired two weeks after AHS boss Athana Mentzelopolous was terminated.
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Guthrie said: “Due to this clear disconnect around cabinet conduct, I can no longer serve on executive council.”
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A rebuttal from the premier’s office was quick in coming.
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“MLA Guthrie is mistaken,” said the response.
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“The meeting was for the purpose of enabling the appointment of an interim CEO and official administrator of AHS to support the transition of AHS to a hospital based service provider and the standing up of Acute Care Alberta.
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“There was no information withheld from the HPGCC relevant to this issue.
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“The termination of the former CEO of AHS was not related to this meeting in any way.”
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Guthrie’s letter hadn’t mentioned the firing of Mentzelopolous, now the subject of her bitter wrongful dismissal lawsuit against LaGrange and the government.
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But the premier’s office response dealt with that issue, stating that her firing was not related to her investigation of contracts.
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It referred instead to earlier government counter-claims about her overall performance.
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This all began, of course, with allegations of contract irregularities in private surgery contracts and the contract for purchasing a substitute children’s medication.
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Guthrie, the former infrastructure transgressed not once but three times against caucus solidarity.
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First, he said Health Minister Adriana LaGrange should be switched to a new ministry while the health procurement scandal is investigated.
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Then, the Airdrie-Cochrane MLA quit the senior cabinet job — sacrificing $60,000 a year in ministerial pay — while alleging that problems with contracts could exist deep within government.
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The UCP caucus first suspended him for 30 days. We didn’t hear much from Guthrie until Monday, when he popped up in the legislature.
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“To properly represent my constituents, I cannot be held in perpetuity to a suspension from caucus, which comes with a gag order,” he told MLAs.
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“I am now at day 48 of my so-called 30-day suspension, impeding my democratic right to fully represent the people of Airdrie-Cochrane.”
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On Tuesday, Premier Smith denied there’s a gag order.
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As late as Tuesday evening Guthrie thought he might get an invitation to the Wednesday caucus meeting. Instead, UCP members voted him out.
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Guthrie then released his letter to the premier.
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His ouster was inevitable. He keeps saying things the government does not want to hear, especially from its own people.
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Currently, he’s appalled by news that government officials have been told to refer the auditor general to a government lawyer if he wants to interview them.
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“In effect, they’re putting government lawyers in front of the staff, so they can see what those staff are going to say in order to build a case,” he told me Tuesday.
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“And there’s an intimidation factor. People will be afraid to report for fear of retribution.
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“This is not about where you are on the political spectrum, left or right. This is about doing the right thing.
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“That’s why there should be an open, transparent inquiry. Let’s open the books and get to the bottom of this. I think a judicial inquiry would do that.”
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Inside and outside the legislature, Smith has refused to consider a full public inquiry.
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The government notes there are already three studies at work — the auditor general’s, an RCMP probe that appears very active, and the government’s own inquiry, led by retired Manitoba judge Raymond E. Wyant.
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Some 13,000 documents have already been produced, the government says. Smith and her ministers repeat that a hired lawyer is only involved for co-ordination of very complex material.
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I asked Auditor General Doug Wylie’s office for comment after LaGrange’s office said lawyers were regularly involved in such investigations, and he was aware and agreed.
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Wylie hardly ever comments about an inquiry in progress. I was astonished when his office came back with the following: “This came as a surprise to the auditor general, and our office will be seeking clarity on why that was sent.
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“In response to your direct question, we were not aware of, nor did we endorse, that proposed action.
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“This is not a standard practice our office typically encounters in the course of its work.”
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He was referring to a memo sent by a senior official to staff who might be interviewed by Wylie’s team.
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That’s an unusually firm rebuke from an officer of the legislature. But the government continues to make statements that deny, or defy, what he’s saying.
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Wylie did note that he’s “seeking clarity.”
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My understanding is that meetings are being held.
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It wouldn’t be surprising to see some accommodation on the lawyer’s involvement and the A-G’s direct access to witnesses.
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The disagreement is deeply embarrassing to the government. It also appears to be delaying Wylie’s work on the allegations of favouritism in contracts for private surgeries and a Tylenol substitute.
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Guthrie will now be an Independent in the legislature. He’s the second UCP member to be expelled this year, after MLA Scott Sinclair got the boot for saying the government’s budget shafted rural Alberta.
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In Guthrie’s case, independence is unlikely to mean silence.
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Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
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