Thread by @RachelNotley

Let's be clear.

Minister Tyler Shandro and his staff politically interfered in a government process to secure a private hospital deal for UCP insiders.

How do we know? There's an audio recording.

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The hour-long recording revealed that the group advancing the proposal met directly with the Minister, to secure political pre-approval of the private hospital project in advance of a competitive public procurement process.

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According to the proponents of the project, their deliberate strategy is political in nature, and designed to circumvent the traditional checks and balances that exist within government to ensure impartial contracting.

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The proponents were recorded as saying that: ‘We really want… from a political perspective to be pulling this project through and really be directing down to [Alberta Health Services] that this is something that they want to have happen.’”

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We're also concerned that the lead lobbyist, Elan MacDonald, claimed that Shandro had appointed a senior staff person, Ivan Bernardo, to work on the file and that Bernardo had promised to clear a path for the project.

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So what does this mean?

A group of wealthy UCP insiders, donors, lobbyists, & property developers get Shandro’s political seal of approval for their bid.

They can then force this private hospital onto AHS, and on to Alberta taxpayers, as a done deal.

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This is textbook corruption.

We're especially concerned to see that this group of UCP insiders is seeking a contract that would guarantee massive profit for Tyler Shandro’s friends, & stick massive risk onto Alberta taxpayers and patients.

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It’s clear to us that the goal of this American-style private hospital is not patient care, it’s about making huge profits to UCP insiders at the expense of Alberta taxpayers & patients.

We can’t trust Tyler Shandro to act in interest of Albertans.

/end #ableg #abhealth