LaGrange orders rule change to lock in Andre Tremblay as AHS interim CEO

The administrator and interim CEO of Alberta Heath Services changed AHS's official rules to declare that only the deputy health minister could be named CEO of the health agency — a change made while he was serving as deputy health minister.

That all had to change days later, after Premier Danielle Smith temporarily removed Andre Tremblay from his ministry job and appointed a new acting deputy health minister during ongoing investigations into AHS contracting.

When CBC News asked last week if Tremblay's term as CEO was contrary to the corporate bylaw he'd just enacted, Health Minister Adriana LaGrange's office said she's ordered Tremblay to revise the AHS bylaws once again — to declare that the administrator could serve as CEO during this period of major reform in the provincial health system.

The revised bylaw will allow Tremblay to remain the sole person in charge of AHS, serving as both CEO and as a one-man board of directors, something that is "problematic," according to an expert in public administration.

Tremblay, who had served as deputy minister of health since mid-2023, became interim CEO of AHS as well on Jan. 8, the day that Athana Mentzelopoulos was removed from the agency's top executive job.

She has since filed a $1.7 million wrongful dismissal suit, claiming she was terminated after she'd authorized an investigation and forensic audit into AHS contracts, and that she was "subject to interference and pressure" from government officials to sign off on agency contracts with private surgical companies, despite concerns over their costs. 

No allegations have been proven in court, and statements of defence from AHS and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange have not yet been filed. LaGrange told reporters Wednesday she will file a statement of defence in court in the coming weeks.

After three weeks serving as interim CEO alongside his regular job, Tremblay added to his titles AHS official administrator — a one-man board of directors — after LaGrange ousted the existing seven-person board.

On Feb. 12, a few weeks into his tenure with all three jobs, Tremblay passed a formal administrator's resolution, which allowed him to unilaterally change AHS general bylaws. 

The resolution stated a ministerial order from LaGrange required the bylaw amendment.

That change added a single new provision, which stated: "the board [of AHS] shall not appoint any other individuals, other than the deputy minister of health, to serve as the interim president and chief executive officer of AHS during a winding-up period."

Although the change was made on Feb. 12, it was backdated to take effect on Jan. 8, the day Mentzelopoulos was terminated.

Winding-up period refers to the current phase of the Smith government's health care restructuring. AHS's central health authority role is being divided up among four different service-specific agencies — and at the end of this wind-up, AHS will be transformed into a hospital service provider that is contracted by a new provincial agency, Acute Care Alberta.

Alberta Health did not provide a clear timeline spelling out how long it will be before AHS is technically "dissolved" into this new, lesser role.

But before then, Tremblay lost one of his three titles.

Last week, Smith announced that Darren Hedley would become acting deputy health minister during investigations into Mentzelopoulos's allegations, including the one conducted by Alberta's auditor general.

Smith told reporters this change stemmed from a request by her cabinet, whose members were "not comfortable with the mingled role" Tremblay had.

CBC News asked AHS to explain the bylaw change and how Tremblay could remain agency CEO if Hedley was now the deputy minister.

An email reply from Christine Myatt, vice-president of communications for AHS, explained that administrator Tremblay was following orders from the minister.

"The bylaw you are referencing was drafted to align with the ministerial order. If that ministerial order changes, AHS will revise its bylaws accordingly," Myatt wrote.

LaGrange's press secretary, Jessi Rampton, then told CBC News that a new ministerial order would be issued, which clarified that the administrator "will serve as interim president and CEO" — effectively ensuring that Tremblay (as administrator) can still appoint Tremblay (as AHS CEO), even if Tremblay no longer serves as deputy health minister.

There was no reply to CBC News' email to Tremblay seeking comment.

When Tremblay was first named interim CEO, a news release from LaGrange's office stated a search for a permanent chief executive would begin "immediately." 

Rampton said the permanent role will likely be filled "once the work to transition AHS to a hospital-based service provider is completed." 

The multiple roles that Tremblay holds, even after losing the deputy minister role, is "problematic," said Evert Lindquist, a professor at the University of Victoria's School of Public Administration.

It would be more understandable if this was simply a very brief interim measure, "a sort of bridging arrangement," while the government found a replacement board or CEO, he said. But this new bylaw seems to keep this arrangement in place for an extended period.

"There's too much concentration of power in one person," said Linquist, editor of the journal Canadian Public Administration.

"There ought to be an interim board, even if it's just a caretaker board of three credible Alberta citizens that the public has confidence in."

This especially holds true, he added, because Tremblay is referred to in the allegations Mentzelopoulos made in her wrongful dismissal lawsuit. Tremblay is not a named defendant in the lawsuit.

Smith has promised a "legal conflicts wall" to keep individuals whose names are mentioned in the lawsuit, including Tremblay, independent from oversight and management of the province's internal investigation of the allegations.

As part of that, the AHS interim general counsel will take the lead on assembling documents for that probe and the auditor general.