Corruption Is the Story. Don’t Let Them Change the Channel.

Every government in trouble has a playbook. When scrutiny tightens and questions get too close to the bone, they reach for the same tools: distraction, misdirection, noise. And voilà, the headlines shift. Suddenly, we’re talking about Ottawa. Or separatism. Or a referendum. Or anything—anything—but the question at hand.

Right now in Alberta, that question is corruption.

At the heart of the matter is a scandal involving Alberta Health Services (AHS) and allegations of improper procurement practices tied to Premier Danielle Smith’s inner circle. This isn’t conjecture. This isn’t partisan speculation. These are credible, detailed allegations—serious enough that Alberta’s Auditor General has launched a formal review, and the RCMP has confirmed it’s looking into a related complaint. The Premier herself has acknowledged that she and her office are under scrutiny.

Let’s be absolutely clear: this is potentially very serious. Public procurement is one of the most vulnerable areas of government to corruption. When oversight is weak and connections strong, it becomes fertile ground for cronyism—the old boys’ club doling out favours and business to friends. That’s how the public trust becomes private wealth. And if Danielle Smith or her staff pressured officials to steer contracts toward politically connected insiders, that’s not just unethical. That is corruption. Full stop.

Here’s what we know: In early 2025, AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos was abruptly fired just days before she was scheduled to brief the Auditor General on suspicious contracts. Days later, the entire AHS board was dismissed—on the very day it was set to receive an investigative report. These moves looked less like coincidence and more like obstruction.

At the centre of it all are lucrative contracts for private surgical clinics and medical supplies. One provider, Alberta Surgical Group, was allegedly charging nearly twice what public hospitals charge for the same procedures. Mentzelopoulos says she was pressured by Marshall Smith, the Premier’s chief of staff, to approve these overpriced contracts. Another firm, MHCare Medical—whose CEO later hosted senior government officials in luxury playoff boxes—was awarded over $600 million in contracts, including a $70 million deal for children’s medication that delivered only 30% of the order before being halted over safety concerns.

This isn’t about mismanagement. It’s about the possibility that taxpayer money was used to enrich friends of the United Conservative government. As NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi put it, these are allegations of “sheer corruption.”

The response from government has been textbook damage control. Smith insists she had “no role” in contract decisions. The Health Minister says the timing of the CEO’s dismissal was part of “planned restructuring.” Meanwhile, the Premier’s office is positioning itself as the gatekeeper of the Auditor General’s report—an unacceptable conflict that allows those under investigation to control the narrative.

And then come the distractions. Smith has returned to her favourite political misdirections: Alberta sovereignty, populist rhetoric, legislative stunts. Her social media allies flood the zone with noise—attacking journalists, smearing critics, reframing every legitimate question as partisan warfare.

It’s all smoke.

And we—especially those of us in media and public life—must not let it cloud our judgement.

The only question that matters is this: Did the Premier’s Office interfere in public AHS procurement processes to benefit political allies?

Everything else is secondary.

But staying focused isn’t easy. Outrage fatigue is real. News cycles spin. Political theatre generates endless spectacle. And Danielle Smith knows this. Her government is betting that if they create enough chaos, they can outlast the public’s attention span.

So how do we resist? How do we summon the discipline to return, again and again, to the story that matters?

By reminding ourselves, and each other, every single day: corruption is the story. Not the shiny object in the other hand. Not the next referendum. Not the next manufactured spat with Ottawa. Corruption. Public trust. Accountability.

If this story fades, if media loses focus, if we let ourselves be led away by manufactured outrage and distraction, we become complicit. We normalize the very thing we’re supposed to expose. We leave the door open for more of the same: more backroom deals, more erosion of democratic norms, more betrayal of the public good.

We cannot let that happen.

We must demand a full, independent, transparent investigation. We must keep asking the same questions tomorrow that we ask today. And we must make it unmistakably clear—through our journalism, our commentary, and our public voices—that if corruption has taken root in the Premier’s Office, this government cannot stand.

No matter how loud the distractions.