Morning Update: First the scandal, then the surveillance

ShareSave for laterPlease log in to bookmark this story.Log InCreate Free AccountGood morning. We investigated a campaign of harassment and intimidation against people who spoke out about an Alberta procurement controversy – more on that below, along with baseball news from both sides of the country. But first:Today’s headlinesCarney says the Canada Strong Fund will ensure all Canadians reap the rewards of support for major new projects Rogers Communications is offering buyouts to half its work force The White House shooting suspect has been charged with attempting to assassinate TrumpOpen this photo in gallery:Police execute search warrants at a medical building in relation to the AHS scandal in Edmonton on March 18.JASON FRANSON/The Globe and MailInvestigationIntimidation tacticsMy name is Tu Thanh Ha. I am a reporter at The Globe, and I’ve been documenting an unusual situation in Alberta. For several months last year, Globe and Mail journalists and officials who were involved in blowing the whistle about a health care procurement controversy in Alberta have been targeted by a campaign to intimidate, distract and discredit them.This included covert surveillance, phone spoofing, crude name calling, false rumours and reputational attacks on podcasts and social media, as well as offers of rewards for incriminating tips. The targets included Carrie Tait, a Calgary-based reporter for The Globe, as well as a banker, the former chief executive of Alberta Health Services and a former cabinet minister. What they had in common were their connections to Alberta Health Services. AHS is the public body that provides medical care in the province. The semi-retired investment banker, Sandy Edmonstone, was a member of the board of AHS. Tait broke several stories about procurement problems at the health authority. Tait first reported in 2024 that cabinet ministers in the government of Premier Danielle Smith had attended hockey games in a private arena suite as guests of an Edmonton company called MHCare Medical. MHCare, which is owned by Sam Mraiche, is one of the vendors contracted by AHS. The health authority has purchased more than $600-million in services and products from companies owned by Mraiche, including a $70-million deal with AHS in 2022 to import children’s painkillers from Turkey. Tait and her colleagues then reported on the January, 2025, firing of the health authority’s CEO, Athana Mentzelopoulos, and the axing weeks later of the entire AHS board, including Edmonstone. Mentzelopoulos alleged in a wrongful-dismissal suit that she was sacked after she wouldn’t wind down an internal investigation into AHS’s procurement practices. Edmonstone had been a supporter of Mentzelopoulos and encouraged her to take her concerns to the RCMP and the province’s Auditor-General. Alberta’s Infrastructure Minister, Peter Guthrie, resigned from cabinet in protest of the way the government had handled the controversy. In the wake of those developments, a pair of podcasters began to attack Tait, Edmonstone, Mentzelopoulos, Guthrie and other critics of AHS, MHCare and the government’s procurement policies.The two podcasters weren’t ordinary trolls. They said they were somehow privy to very specific details about the controversy and the people they targeted. One of the podcasters, David Wallace, is, by his own account, a former political fixer and dirty-tricks operator for hire. Open this photo in gallery:Podcaster David Wallace with Tyler Argue at the United…

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