If you thought the near miss of a trade war with the United States would be the biggest story in Alberta this week, you were mistaken.

It turns out, Turkish pain medication has created a much bigger headache for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her government.

On Thursday afternoon, Alberta’s Auditor-General, Doug Wylie, announced he is looking into procurement and contract practices at the provincial health authority and Ministry of Health after allegations emerged that officials in Smith’s government interfered on behalf of private companies.

The examination, as Mr. Wylie calls it, will cover chartered surgical facilities (CSFs), COVID-19 personal protective equipment and pain-relief medications.

“The examination is looking at the effectiveness of management and control processes – including governance and oversight – ensuring value for Albertans while addressing concerns or allegations related to contracting and potential conflicts of interest,” Wylie said in a statement.

The announcement of the probe comes a day after The Globe and Mail’s Carrie Tait outlined the details of a Jan. 20 letter sent by a lawyer for former Alberta Health Services chief executive Athana Mentzelopoulos, which alleges she was fired on Jan. 8, two days before she was to meet with the Auditor-General about her own internal investigation into AHS’s contracts and procurement processes.

The AHS board, after she provided an update on her investigation in December, recommended that she take her findings to the RCMP, the letter alleges. The government dismissed the board Jan. 31.

AHS’s operations had been under scrutiny after The Globe first reported last July that members of Alberta’s government received gifts from a company called MHCare Medical, which imported generic pain medication from Turkey for the health authority.

To wind the story back even further, the problems with the deal for children’s pain-relief medication were first revealed by The Globe’s Alanna Smith, who in late October, 2023, reported that despite the Alberta government having already paid $75-million up front for the medicine – the vast majority of it was unlikely to ever be delivered.

This week’s stories revealed several allegations in the letter from Mentzelopoulos about how contracts were handled by AHS.

The letter alleges that government officials, including Smith’s then-chief of staff Marshall Smith, no relation to the Premier, put pressure on Mentzelopoulos to sign deals for private surgical facilities despite concerns around the value of contracts and questions around ownership.

Mentzelopoulos also alleges that senior government officials, including Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, were aware of problems she uncovered at AHS and that the health department on Dec. 23 instructed her to wind up her investigation and turn over the files to the government.

Jessi Rampton, LaGrange’s press secretary, said in a statement that Mentzelopoulos’s contract was cut short, and the AHS board dismissed shortly after, because of the government’s continuing restructuring at the health authority.

“As to the allegations made by the outgoing CEO, Alberta Health Services is reviewing them, but the interpretation that her termination was due to AHS’s review of certain procurement decisions are false,” Rampton said.

Neither the Premier’s office, nor Marshall Smith acknowledged requests for comment.

The former executive also alleges that medical supplier MHCare and companies affiliated with its owner, Sam Mraiche, have done roughly $614-million worth of business with AHS. Mraiche has also not acknowledged messages seeking comment. One of his lawyers, said this week he would not comment without viewing Mentzelopoulos’s letter.

Mentzelopoulos is demanding Alberta pay her roughly $1.7-million, which is what she would have made had she been permitted to serve out the rest of her contract. Neither she, nor her lawyer, have commented.

This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.