Alberta’s auditor general granted extra $1M for health procurement probe

EDMONTON — Alberta’s auditor general has been granted his request for nearly $1 million in extra funding to continue digging into allegations of corruption in private health-care contracts.

Auditor general Doug Wylie says the investigation has demanded his office hire additional help.

Members from both the United Conservative Party government and Opposition NDP who sit on the legislature committee voted Tuesday to approve the request and agreed that Wylie’s work is important.

Wylie told the committee that the sheer volume of documents and interviews involved in his probe means his office needs to contract specialists, including for legal analysis and advice.

“The scope and complexity of this examination requires the assistance of professionals who possess specialized tools and skill sets. We also require external audit support to effectively execute the volume of work required,” he said.

If the extra $990,000 in funding were to be denied, Wylie said, “we would have to stop the work.”

“We simply do not have the resources.”

His investigation began nearly five months ago as a result of allegations made by the former head of Alberta Health Services, the province’s health authority.

Athana Mentzelopoulos is suing the government for wrongful dismissal, claiming she faced political interference on the job and was fired for looking into questionable, overpriced contracts.

The province has denied any wrongdoing, arguing in court documents that Mentzelopoulos was fired for poor job performance and for dragging her feet on health-care reforms.

None of the allegations have been tested in court, but they have sparked an investigation by the RCMP and prompted the government to hire a former Manitoba judge to head his own review into health-care contracting.

UCP legislature member Chelsae Petrovic, who sits on the legislature committee, spoke in support of Wylie’s funding request.

“(By) approving these additional funds, we are ensuring the work of the auditor general can continue to be implemented,” she said.

The NDP has long argued that the only way to get to the bottom of the scandal is to hold a public inquiry led by a judge who can subpoena witnesses.

NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi said the government’s refusal to do so means taxpayers now have to shell out another $1 million, because the government has shown it doesn’t want the truth to see the light of day.

“If they had called a public inquiry ages ago, we would have been able to save a lot of trouble and a lot of taxpayer money,” he told reporters.

NDP legislature members David Shepherd, who also sits on the committee, said the need for extra funding speaks to how difficult the auditor general’s investigation has become.

“This is due to how wide and deep this issue goes,” he said.

Wylie said he doesn’t have a firm timeline for when his review will be complete, but his eight-year term is set to expire in April 2026.

Nenshi said he’s concerned about the auditor general being able to finish before his contract runs out.

“If the UCP were smart and they wanted transparency, they would just say the auditor general gets to stay until this investigation is over,” he said.

Wylie told reporters he and his office are motivated to get the work done in time.

He was unable to provide the committee Tuesday a specific estimate of the total cost for internal staffing for the investigation.

Also at the committee, an extra $835,000 was approved for Elections Alberta to do work needed to comply with the UCP’s recent changes to the province’s election law.

Those changes include banning electronic vote tabulators and allowing for corporate and union donations to political parties.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2025.

Lisa Johnson and Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press