Red Deer Regional Hospital (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By David Opinko

Health Care

Red Deer and Lethbridge chartered surgical centres cancelled, province to look for new operator

Dec 5, 2025 | 11:06 AM

Two privately run surgical facilities announced three years ago will not see the light of day, at least not for a while longer.

Matt Jones, Minister of Hospital and Surgical Health Services, has told Pattison Media in a statement that Alberta Health Services (AHS) cancelled the procurements for the chartered surgical facilities in Red Deer and Lethbridge on Nov. 28, 2025.

“This decision to cancel these procurements was based on several factors, including the significant time that had elapsed since the proponent was selected, which made the original economic assumptions and costing outdated,” says Jones.

He adds, there were also operational challenges and delays in finalizing contracts, as well as a transition to new procurement oversight under Acute Care Alberta.

In September 2022, then-premier Jason Kenney announced that the government had launched a request for proposals to create the centres in Alberta’s two largest mid-sized cities in an effort to increase surgical capacity. No formal agreements have been signed.

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According to Kenney, the goal was to facilitate an additional 1,250 surgeries in the South Zone and 1,350 in the Central Zone, including “hip and knee replacement, general surgeries like hernia repairs, and others.”

READ MORE: AHS to contract new chartered surgical facility in South Zone

The deal proved to be controversial, as a report from former Manitoba judge Raymond Wyant found that Alberta Surgical Group’s (ASG’s) existing surgical centre in the Edmonton area had been overcharging for surgeries, and that there were a series of conflicts of interest in the deals to build the Lethbridge and Red Deer facilities.

Athana Mentzelopoulos, a former head of AHS, alleges that she was wrongfully terminated because of the contract situation.

She was brought into the role in late 2023 and delved deeper into the proposed private surgical centres.

She claims in a wrongful termination suit that she was repeatedly pressured by then Health Minister Adriana LaGrange to approve the deals, despite concerns over costs and confusion over who would own and operate the facilities.

Mentzelopoulos stated in her claim that the rates being paid to the Alberta Surgical Group were much higher than other facilities under contract with AHS, and that the company was being paid for services that “we know has not been required.”

READ MORE: Health Minister Adriana LaGrange named in $1.7 million lawsuit by former AHS CEO

In light of the controversy, Minister Jones says the government is “committed to improving the transparency and accountability of health procurement practices.”

“In addition to implementing Judge Wyant’s recommendations, RSM, an independent third party, was engaged in October to review and strengthen acute care procurement processes,” says Jones. “We are also strengthening legal and contractual frameworks to ensure every applicant and contractor is held to the highest ethical standards. Our government is committed to achieving value for money through open, transparent, and competitive procurement processes.”

Acute Care Alberta plans to launch a new competitive procurement process in early 2026 to secure additional surgical capacity.

Jones tells Pattison Media that the government remains committed to reducing surgical wait times by delivering 50,000 additional surgeries through the Alberta Care Action Plan.

He says this will build on the Alberta Surgical Initiative’s $265 million investment in new operating rooms and equipment.

READ MORE: Report into Alberta Health Services contracts finds conflicts widely known

“It’s frustrating that our government continues to show their lack of commitment to transparency and accountability when it comes to surgical procurement,” says Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, in a media release. “If the government believes there were issues with the procurement of these contracts what were they? Who is being held accountable?”

“This is why Albertans deserve a fully empowered public inquiry with a wide mandate to look into the entirety of this government’s health care procurement processes and decisions,” he adds. “This is the only way Albertans can be assured we will get complete answers on the ongoing allegations of corruption.”

“Evidence has repeatedly shown the government’s ongoing ideological push to privatize more surgeries into for-profit surgical centres has been harming the surgical capacity in our public hospitals,” continues Gallaway. “The cancelling of the contracts for these two surgical facilities is an opportunity for the government to change course, cancel plans for these new private facilities altogether and instead focus on properly staffing our public hospitals and operating rooms where lifesaving and emergency surgeries need to happen.”