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Braid: With crucial scandal report coming, UCP makes the right choice for auditor general

There’s every reason to believe Phillip Peters will take up the task smoothly when outgoing auditor general Doug Wylie leaves April 28

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A week ago, I forecast doom as a legislature committee prepared to pick a new auditor general.

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The choice seemed likely to be an outsider who would delay, maybe into oblivion, the crucial report on health procurement, private clinics and children’s pain reliever.

But the UCP-dominated committee, to my surprise, made a good choice this week.

They selected Phillip Peters, who has been legal counsel and ethics adviser with the auditor-general’s office for nine years.

Peters is involved in many interviews for the report, which still hasn’t been written.

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An outsider would have needed months to get familiar with the file and complete the report.

Peters is all over it, every day. He knows the system inside out. A King’s Counsel, he has experience in law and accounting with both federal and provincial public services.

There’s every reason to believe he’ll take up the task smoothly when outgoing auditor general Doug Wylie leaves April 28.

The report is expected to illuminate the murky corners of lush spending that seems to revolve around the same private companies and individuals.

The final report has been much delayed by complexity and occasional government stalling. But the conclusions have now been reached.

About time, too. This investigation, the biggest ever undertaken by the auditor general, has been active for more than a year.

Progress has often been rocky. Last April, a senior deputy minister told officials that if Wylie summoned them for interviews, they should tell him to call the government’s lawyer.

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“We were not aware of, nor did we endorse, that proposed action,” he said in a statement. “That is not a standard practice our office typically encounters in the course of its work.”

Health Minister Adriana LaGrange claimed inquiries always worked that way. The guy who does them had never heard of it.

Recently, the RCMP executed search warrants at MHCare Medical, owned by Sam Mraiche, and at an office of associate Sam Jaber.

This scandal is heating up rather than fading away.

The UCP may calculate that the best option is to get the report out and over with in the next few months. They wouldn’t want it clogging up the works in 2027, an election year.

There’s also a persistent view in government that neither the police inquiry nor the auditor general will find any crime or collusion on the part of politicians or political staff.

In fact, they expect the blame to fall on Alberta Health Services.

The NDP, predictably, was outraged by Phillips’ appointment.

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“Albertans deserve better than a process that prioritizes political interests over the public good,” they said in a minority report.

“We regret that the UCP members of the committee did not appear to share this view.

“We remain deeply disappointed by their actions and decisions, and we urge all members of the legislature to reject the candidate they have recommended.”

The NDP said better candidates competed for the job.

“UCP members of the subcommittee were not open to discussion of those options but focused on a single candidate who, while qualified, in our view was not the most qualified and experienced applicant for the position.”

Phillips’ qualifications and direct experience, in fact, are exactly what’s needed for this job.

But the NDP would use their standard template no matter who won.

They need to up their game, those folks. Their eternal apocalyptic drumbeat gets tiresome.

The committee selection goes to the legislature for approval next week.

At a crucial moment, the UCP made the right choice.

Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald

X and Bluesky: @DonBraid

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