THE CANADIAN PRESS Jeff McIntosh
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, left, and Matt Jones, minister of hospitals, make a health-care announcement in Calgary on Nov. 14.
zmason@medicinehatnews.com
The UCP government has cancelled the procurement of two chartered surgical facilities this week, including the one planned for Lethbridge.
The news of the cancellations was unveiled during question period in Tuesday afternoon’s legislative session. Minister of Hospital and Surgical Services Matt Jones informed legislature of the cancellations in response to a question about the conflicts of interest confirmed last month in the results of an investigation by Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant.
“Concerns were raised about the procurement practices and procedures and handling of conflicts of interest in AHS procurement, and I’m pleased to share that the procurements for the central and south zone surgical facilities have been cancelled,” said Jones on Tuesday.
The minister explained that those procurements were paused when concerns were raised about procurement practices and the handling of conflicts of interest out of respect for Wyant’s review.
Jones added that procurement and contracting are being transferred to the new Health Shared Services organization. He said an independent third party, RSM, has been engaged to review and strengthen procurement procedures going forward.
In a statement to the News on Friday, Minister Jones confirmed that Alberta Health Services cancelled the procurements on Nov. 28 and immediately informed the proponents.
In response to a question about whether concerns about procurement and conflicts of interest applied specifically to these procurements, Jones says a variety of factors informed the cancellations.
“This decision to cancel these procurements was based on several factors, including the significant time that had elapsed since the proponent was selected, which made the original economic assumptions and costing outdated,” said Jones. “There were also operational challenges and delays in finalizing contracts, as well as a transition to new procurement oversight under ACA.”
The original request for proposals dated back to September 2022. No formal agreement regarding the procurements had been signed.
Jones says Acute Care Alberta will launch a new competitive procurement process in early 2026.
Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, is frustrated that the information was not shared proactively but raised during question period. He says it highlights a continued lack of transparency when it comes to surgical procurement.
“If the government believes there were issues with the procurement of these contracts what were they? Who is being held accountable?” said Gallaway.
“This is why Albertans deserve a fully empowered public inquiry with a wide mandate to look into the entirety of this government’s health care procurement processes and decisions. This is the only way Albertans can be assured we will get complete answers on the ongoing allegations of corruption.”
In his report, Judge Wyant said that his findings were limited by lack of access to elected officials and the inability to compel testimony under oath. Wyant also said that he was tasked with over 2.25 million documents, which were “sent in multiple intervals” and “not indexed or organized in any form.”
“Evidence has repeatedly shown the government’s ongoing ideological push to privatize more surgeries into for-profit surgical centres has been harming the surgical capacity in our public hospitals,” said Gallaway.
“The cancelling of the contracts for these two surgical facilities is an opportunity for the government to change course, cancel plans for these new private facilities altogether and instead focus on properly staffing our public hospitals and operating rooms where lifesaving and emergency surgeries need to happen,” said Gallaway.
Jones says that the government is committed to expanding surgical capacity by continuing to leverage chartered surgical facilities and ensure fairness and transparency in line with the recommendations made in Wyant’s report.
