Former UCP cabinet minister calls Alberta government health contract probe whitewashing [Video]

A former Alberta cabinet minister says an investigation called by Premier Danielle Smith’s government into multimillion-dollar health contracts looks like a whitewashing exercise.

Peter Guthrie, now an Independent member of the legislature, posted a letter Wednesday afternoon, saying that, among other problems, the terms of a third-party probe by a former Manitoba judge are so narrow that it will be tough to get to the heart of what happened.

Guthrie said the United Conservative government is only hurting itself since the investigation by former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant is unlikely to earn public trust.

“This review resembles a classic ‘Whitewash Report,’ seemingly designed to conceal wrongdoing rather than expose it – an approach that risks triggering serious accusations of a coverup,” Guthrie wrote.

He quit Smith’s cabinet in February and was expelled last week from the governing UCP caucus over his public concerns about the contracts.

It all comes after the former head of Alberta Health Services sued the government in February, alleging …