Carter Blatz

Daniel Mercer, a happy new owner of the RTX5090 in his living room. Check out my latest story about the launch on my website carterblatz.com

“It seems that people will pay for flagship GPU models regardless of price point,” - Graham Moore Check out my latest story about the launch of the RTX5090 over at my website carterblatz.com

This concludes my coverage of the "Update on AHS allegations" press conference. Thanks for following along, and stay tuned for more about this story as it unfolds.

I'm just about to start watching the "Update on AHS allegations" from the Alberta government that streamed yesterday at 2 p.m. Unfortunately I missed it but If you missed it too stick around and I'll update you on what was said and what happened.

Third, it was really disappointing that only the second to last question was about Smith's misconstrued allegations. No one called her on it until the very end. It was so strange that I had to look it up mid-conference to make sure that I didn't misunderstand the allegations

The allegations suggest that Smith's former chief of staff, Marshall Smith, personally pressured AHS employees in the direction of certain contracts and partnerships.

Second, Smith continued to misconstrue the allegations to wipe her own governments hands clean. She continually stated that the allegations were about the internal processes of AHS. That's not true.

Smith continually uses her desire to improve health care as a deflection against any suggestion of wrongdoing, but you can intend to do a good thing while also doing something illegal to achieve those ends. Those aren't mutually exclusive actions.

The conference is over but I have a few closing thoughts

Have you ever received any kickbacks? - "No!", this was very awkward to watch as they both stood there uncomfortably. Probably just asked this to have a direct answer on record in case it comes out that they did receive kickbacks.

Someone finally confronted Smith about her dodging the allegations. She refutes that Marshall Smith or anyone in the government had any involvement in the contracts besides asking for a time frame.

Smith says that AHS internal processes are a black box" to the government. They approve funding but don't see the transparency they would like.

Another question about LaGrange's failure to report the allegations to Smith. Smith continues to insist that the allegations are purely about why the cost of surgeries differ between facilities. But there is no mention of the allegation that her Chief of staff was involved.

Smith - AHS is in a conflict of interest. She is saying that if any wrongdoing occured, it was entirely AHS' fault. The current transition in health care makes sure that the Chartered facilities are not "under the thumb" of AHS

Smith is dodging the question if she is OK with her health minister not running what she knew "up the flagpole" by not telling her about the allegations. She is spinning the answer into an attack against AHS and praise for her chartered surgical facilities.

Smith - People should continue to trust the health minister because she is the one looking to get to the bottom of this issue. She had nothing to do with these processes as they happened before she held the position and the issues were entirely within AHS

This doesn't really address what we are hearing now though. The allegations as we know now are that the Government did in fact have involvement in these procedures, the Premiers former Chief of staff Marshall Smith.

LaGRange is being grilled hard about why she didn't tell Smith about the allegations as soon as she new. Her answer is that it was unsubstantiated allegations within AHS specifically and the Premier didn't need to know.

The government is holding to the line that AHS was wholly responsible for the procurement of ALL contracts and individuals in the government have had nothing to do with any of those processes as is being alleged.

Smith - first told about variable pricing of procedures at different facilities in the Fall of last year.

LaGrange - allegations were brought forward verbally in Summer 2024. Everything was inconclusive at the time. Claims she was not provided with anything substantive in the following months when the former CEO undertook her internal investigation.