EDMONTON — One of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s cabinet ministers has quit his post, saying he has broad concerns over how procurement contracts are being signed across government.
Peter Guthrie announced Tuesday he was quitting the infrastructure portfolio.
It came on the first day of the spring sitting of the legislature as Smith and her United Conservative Party government grapple with an ongoing scandal surrounding allegations of high-level arm-twisting and favouritism in multimillion-dollar health contracts.
Guthrie, in his resignation letter, said he has pushed for months for better guardrails, including a financial oversight committee to review major government contracts, but said: “Unfortunately, the majority of cabinet does not appear to share my concerns.”
Guthrie said he intends to stay in the governing United Conservative caucus as a backbencher, “where I can continue to voice my concerns and hold cabinet accountable with honesty and integrity.”
“It is essential that the public has confidence in its government and its processes," he said.
“We were elected to be open, transparent, fiscally responsible and – above all – honest with Albertans."
Smith’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Guthrie, the member for Airdire-Cochrane, made headlines earlier this month when he wrote to cabinet colleagues, urging Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to step down from her post while the corruption allegations were investigated.
LaGrange remains in the job with the support of Smith and a number of other cabinet ministers.
Two investigations are underway: one by the auditor general and a second one by the government.
The allegations of corruption stem from a lawsuit filed by the former head of Alberta Health Services, Athana Mentzelopoulos, and have not been tested in court.
Mentzelopoulos claims that government officials as high up as the premier's office pressured her to sign off on overpriced contracts for private surgical companies.
Her concerns led her to initiate an internal investigation and a forensic audit of procurement practices at Alberta Health Services last fall, but she was fired on Jan. 8 before the audit was completed.
On Monday, Smith did not commit to ordering all government departments to identify potential ties to firms and individuals named in the lawsuit as part of the government review.
“What we're looking for is any flaws in the procurement," said Smith. "We're not doing a witch hunt to try to find every single transaction that every single business has done if there is no reason to look into it."
The Opposition NDP has labelled the scandal “CorruptCare” and on Tuesday renewed a call for Smith to fire LaGrange and order a judge-led public inquiry.
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi pointed to allegations in the lawsuit that staff in the premier's office pressured Mentzelopoulos to fire purported critics of the government from AHS.
"It seems Danielle Smith loves the witch hunt, except when she might be the witch," Nenshi said.
"We lost a minister today, and I will tell you that every single member of that UCP caucus today is asking themselves: 'Do I want to be the one holding the bag when the music stops? Do I want to be around when the RCMP starts arresting people or do I want to stand up for what's right?'"
As part of the government review, Guthrie notified Alberta's auditor general last week of a real estate deal that occurred between his ministry and one of the individuals named in Mentzelopoulos' lawsuit last summer.
That individual, Sam Mraiche, the owner of MHCare Medical, was awarded a $70-million contract in 2022 to secure children's pain medication from Turkey, but the government only received about 30 per cent of the order and the medication stop being used over safety concerns.
Multiple cabinet ministers, including Guthrie, have said they accepted luxury box tickets to Edmonton Oilers playoff games courtesy of Mraiche since his company was awarded the contract.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2025.
Jack Farrell and Lisa Johnson, The Canadian Press
