Ex-minister Guthrie on 'probation,' barred from UCP caucus meetings after quitting cabinet

Former Alberta infrastructure minister Peter Guthrie is barred from attending UCP caucus meetings following his recent abrupt resignation, as part of a 30-day probation period he's been placed under.

Guthrie, who quit Premier Danielle Smith's cabinet in the wake of allegations about Alberta Health Services contracting, is still allowed to sit with United Conservative MLAs on the government side of the legislature chamber during this unusual probation.

Guthrie, the MLA for Airdrie-Cochrane, declined an interview request, but he confirmed to CBC News that he's been barred since Feb. 26 from attending regular caucus meetings or government committees.

A day earlier, he confirmed his resignation in a public letter that stated he'd pushed for changes to government contracting that "could have been instrumental in preventing some of the issues we are now seeing in Alberta Health and AHS."

After reports first broke about former AHS executive Athana Mentzelepoulos's allegations about her dismissal and her concerns with private surgery contracts, Guthrie had argued to cabinet colleagues that Smith should remove Health Minister Adriana LaGrange until various investigations into the ex-CEO's claims could clear the air.

His proposals for the removal of LaGrange and interim AHS CEO Andre Tremblay, reiterated in an email to cabinet reported by CBC News, went unheeded.

Since his resignation, Guthrie has been quoted in media reports as being critical of his colleagues.

Guthrie used to sit on the front row of Smith's UCP benches.

After his resignation, he was moved to the back row in the corner, next to MLA Jennifer Johnson. She spent more than a year as an independent MLA for inflammatory remarks she'd made about transgender youth — before caucus welcomed her into their fold last October.

Questions from CBC News about Guthrie's probation, sent to the whip's office and UCP caucus, were not answered.

"We don't comment on internal caucus matters," caucus spokesperson Mackenzie Blyth said in an email.

It's not clear what precedent there is for the UCP or any party to put a member on probation. In several past cases where tensions have risen, a caucus has expelled a member, making them sit as an independent MLA.

Mentzelopoulos was fired as CEO on Jan. 8, barely one year into a four-year contract to preside over AHS during the Smith government's major restructuring.

Last month, Mentzelopoulos filed a $1.7-million wrongful dismissal suit that claimed she was fired after facing government pressure to end AHS's reviews into some private surgery clinic contracts, and what she believed may be conflicts of interests within the agency's procurement unit.

No allegations have been proven in court, and both LaGrange and AHS have said they will file statements of defence.

This week, the RCMP confirmed their review into a complaint it received in the matter has now evolved into an investigation.

The provincial auditor-general is also investigating the information AHS has forwarded along, and the Smith government has asked a former Manitoba chief judge to conduct his own special review of the AHS procurement system.

Guthrie was infrastructure minister last year when a northwest Edmonton property next door to a provincial building was sold to a company controlled by businessman Sam Mraiche for $1.7 million in June, then sold to the infrastructure ministry for $2 million four months later.

Benji Smith, a spokesperson for Alberta Infrastructure, told CBC News that when then-minister Guthrie learned of this deal's details in mid-February, he directed the ministry to audit the transaction to ensure proper procedures were followed, and notified the auditor general, "should his office be interested in reviewing." 

The spokesperson said the province wanted that land to support the adjacent Provincial Operations Centre, run by the Public Safety and Emergency Services ministry.

Mraiche is CEO of MHCare, the medical supplier that was the contracted importer for $70 million worth of children's pain medicine the province purchased in 2022, although the vast majority of bottles purchased were never used.

Documents obtained by CBC News also confirm Mraiche was the partial owner of groups contracted to launch chartered surgical facilities in both Lethbridge and Red Deer. Those contracts are on hold during provincial investigations into procurement processes at Alberta Health Services.

Mraiche's medical supply company also hosted multiple cabinet ministers in its luxury box at Edmonton Oilers games last year, including Guthrie.

A lawyer for MHCare said last month: "Any allegations, and resulting insinuations, of wrongdoing, on the part of MHCare Medical Corporation, are unwarranted and unjustified."

There was no comment to questions about last year's land purchase and subsequent sale to the provincial government.