Remember that time Danielle Smith claimed she didn’t really know the guy who allegedly scammed AHS for $50 million, allegedly with the help of a guy she also didn’t know who was a senior procurement officer in AHS and then became the sole middleman for another company— that the same guy was part of while also working for that guy’s company and the Minister of Health— to help them get the absolute mother of all deals for surgeries?
Even though her Ministers accepted box seats with him for Edmonton Oilers playoff games and she also had him in the skybox in Vancouver that she was received as a “gift” from his accountant who was also working at Alberta Innovates?
Now that I think of it, didn’t she also say that she meets with people who do business with the government all the time? Funny.
Then we found out that her Chief of Staff lived at a house owned by his sister and a bunch of his nephews worked for the Alberta government?
And then we found out her Justice Minister was like bffs with that guy and also related to him through marriage.
And then it turned out that during her leadership run, she had a Zoom call with both the senior procurement officer from AHS and the guy who would allegedly scam $50 million from AHS just a few months later?
I remember.
It’s a small, small world
Jeff Rath, a local lawyer, separatist “leader” and United Conservative Party member has been bragging for the better part of a year that he was attending meetings with U.S. Administration officials in the states.
He even stood up at last year’s UCP AGM and called Premier and party leader Danielle Smith a sell-out for signing an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with Prime Minister Mark Carney on the west coast pipeline.
“We did that to send a message to Danielle Smith, and to send a message to this Cabinet that their party is an independence party,” separation activist Jeffrey Rath told James Dunn from Edmonton’s City News.
“Their party wants a free and independent Alberta and they better start leading like we’re going to become a free and independent country because that’s what their members demand.”
He’s not just a UCP member, or a separatist “leader.”
Mr. Rath is also a lawyer for the Alberta Prosperity Project.
The current CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project is UCP Constituency Association President for Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul, Mitch Sylvestre.
Dr. Dennis Modry, co-founder and former CEO of the Alberta Prosperity Project, claims he was also in attendance at the meetings where water, royalties, and resource access was offered to U.S. officials in exchange for money and assistance with the separatist movement. Dr. Modry was also the former policy director for the WEXIT provincial party.
Speaking of which, the former CFO of the WEXIT provincial party (and federal party for that matter), Kathy Flett, is challenging the UCP nomination in Sherwood Park. As a political party, they decided not to run any candidates in 2019 because they didn’t want to risk splitting the vote (not a thing) with the UCP.
Pfft. Saving face before they collectively fell on it more likely.
Moving on.
I also remember that during the leadership race, a small handful of UCP leadership hopefuls— Danielle Smith, Todd Loewen, and Brian Jean— starred in a debate just for the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP). Rebel news potentially still has the link to the event (search results) but the APP has removed it from their site.
Rajan Sawhney, Leela Aheer, Rebecca Schulz and Travis Toews all declined to attend.
Now you might look at all of that and say— okay, so obviously she knows who these people are and sees them at social events, but it’s not like she’s really “affiliated with” them.
That’s fair. However, I have to wonder if she isn’t really “affiliated with” them in the same way she wasn’t really “affiliated with” the guy who allegedly scammed $50 million from AHS and kept getting more and more contracts from her Health ministry anyway.
Because when I read that statement from her press secretary, I was reminded of another time that this incestuous little group popped up in Danielle Smith’s decision-making.
You may recall that before the election in 2023, Artur Pawlowski (facing charges for his role in the Coutts border blockade of 2022) leaked audio of a phone call he had with Premier Danielle Smith where she claimed she was trying every week to interfere in the administration of justice on his and others’ behalf.
But did you recall that the phone call itself was “hosted and arranged by Dr. Dennis Modry” by chance?
Smaller and smaller.
I have questions
She’s been swimming in this swamp before she even managed to get elected and we only know some of the things she’s been doing behind Albertan’s backs.
She claimed she didn’t know the AHS scammer but once allegations arose, she and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange did everything they could to shut them down, including allegedly firing the AHS CEO, Athana Mentzelopolous, as well as the AHS Board (and other staff) who had recommended the evidence be handed over to the RCMP. The alleged scam artist even continued to get more government procurement funds in the form of long-term leases for addictions centres under Recovery Alberta (an AHS carve out).
All to end up with a story about Danielle Smith meeting with them before she even became premier.
If Premier and UCP leader Danielle Smith’s separatist story follows the same trajectory, what would we find?
That she changed the Citizen-led Initiative Act legislation four times just to help them along?
That she’s been helping them in other ways too?
I mean, who among us hasn’t wondered how a bunch of nobodies from Alberta ended up getting meetings with officials from the U.S. Administration in the first place?
Nobodies who have the gall to offer up access to things only the Alberta government can offer?
It’s pretty weird that all of that is just floating around Danielle Smith and she hasn’t even “heard about them,” don’t you think?
I mean, this is the same Premier who snarked at Pete Guthrie in the Alberta Legislature about ordering a tomahawk steak while he was at an Oilers game; a detail that was dropped on a podcast allegedly funded by the guy who allegedly scammed AHS out of $50 million and still keeps getting procurement deals from her government.
That she heard about, but members of her party who run a separatist organization— that she uses as an example of why she has to cater to them or they’ll leave her party and she won’t get to be Premier anymore— meeting with U.S. officials and bragging about it for a year escaped her attention.
Sure, Danielle.
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Premier Measles screws her socks on every morning. Proof of her lies starts the second her lips start to move.
Shake her by the her cold, slimy hand and check to see if your ring, watch and wallet are still in your possession. Never turn your back, knowing full well she’ll smile full in your face as she slips a knife into your guts, turning it as she lifts your car keys.
Alberta! Wake the fuck up! These ghoul UCP revenants will turn this province into a dead eyed wasteland.
It smells!