Accounting firm owned by Smith government appointee searched by RCMP

https://archive.is/sm0Im

Globe and Mail’s Carrie Tait, Tom Cardoso, Matthew Scace, and Jana G. Pruden, and Alanna Smith, with the latest updates on the RCMP conducting searches of properties associated with Sam Jaber, Jitendra Prasad, and Sam Mraiche.

A marked RCMP vehicle was parked in front of Jaberson & Associates, a tax preparation and accounting firm owned by Sam Jaber. In November, 2023, Ms. Smith appointed him to the board of Invest Alberta, which focuses on attracting capital investment to the province.

Mr. Jaber has also served as the chief financial officer of MHCare Medical Corp., a private company owned by Sam Mraiche, a businessman at the centre of the province’s procurement controversy.

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On Thursday, a Globe reporter spoke with a neighbour of Jitendra Prasad, one of the former Alberta Health Service procurement officials who was part of Ms. Mentzelopoulos’s probe.

The neighbour told The Globe that RCMP officers had attended at Mr. Prasad’s home throughout the day on Tuesday.

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Mr. Jaber owns two tax and accounting businesses, corporate records show – Jaberson & Associates and Tax Pros, both based in Edmonton.

Corporate filings show that Mr. Jaber and his accounting businesses have acted as registering agents for several of Mr. Mraiche’s business ventures.

Mr. Jaber was appointed to Invest Alberta’s board at the behest of the Premier’s Office, according to records obtained by The Globe through an access to information request.

In a series of e-mails, government staff discuss Mr. Jaber’s potential appointment. In an e-mail dated Oct. 26, 2023, one official wrote that the Premier’s Office “has indicated this is a priority for immediate action.” Mr. Jaber was appointed to the board by an order-in-council signed by the Premier four weeks later. His term is set to expire next January.

Invest Alberta declined to comment.

The Premier in the summer of 2024 confirmed that Jaberson & Associates furnished her office with tickets to watch the Edmonton Oilers play the Vancouver Canucks in British Columbia during the NHL playoffs that year. Mr. Mraiche joined Ms. Smith in a box suite to watch the game, a photo taken by The Canadian Press shows.

Smith defends government after RCMP executes search warrants in health care procurement probe

https://archive.is/r85Ok

Globe and Mail’s Carrie Tait, Matthew Scace, and Tom Cardoso, with the latest in the CorruptCare scandal, with the RCMP pushing further in their investigation.

The article deserves a read, and highlights included here.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith defended her government on Thursday during her first appearance in the legislature since police executed search warrants as part of their criminal investigation into the province’s health care procurement controversy.

The RCMP this week searched the head office of MHCare Medical Corp., one of the government suppliers at the centre of the controversy.

The company, which has received $600-million in contracts from Alberta Health Services, is owned by Edmonton businessman Sam Mraiche. Mr. Mraiche had ties with Ms. Smith and members of her government, as well as public servants at Alberta’s health authority.

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During Question Period at the Alberta Legislature on Thursday, Opposition NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi highlighted the relationship between the government and Mr. Mraiche, who played host to cabinet ministers and political officials in a box suite during Edmonton Oilers games.

“It is the biggest government scandal in Alberta history,” Mr. Nenshi said. He noted that the RCMP searches are now in their third day.

Alberta construction company alleges Sam Mraiche played hidden role in building of addiction sites

https://archive.is/ztn4Y

Globe and Mail’s Tom Cardoso and Carrie Tait give us the deep dive on the latest in the CorruptCare scandal, revealing allegations that Sam Mraiche continued to use his connections to the UCP to shake down other businesses for payments in exchange for government contracts.

Here, the allegations take us to Melewka Homes Ltd, owned by Lewis Semashkewich and John Semashkewich. The pair did business with a Mohamed Eldassouki. Plot twist: Eldassouki apparently is the brother-in-law of the perpetual protagonist of capitalism, Sam Mraiche. The Semashkewiches go on to allege that Mraiche introduced himself as Fred, and suggested that he had connections with high ranked officials, and he could pull contracts awarded to Melweka at any time. Fred went on to make demands for large sums of money.

Unfortunately, some of these contracts appear to involve the Addiction Recovery Centres that were once handled by AHS. But, since AHS may have been shattered into pieces for allegedly investigating the CorruptCare cluster of contracts, it has since been replaced by Recovery Alberta in 2024. At this point, it beggars belief that the UCP, Danielle Smith, and her caucus do not either resign or at least take steps to mitigate what is clearly an out-of-control conflicts of interest.

As always, the article deserves a read, and I’ll include some highlights here. You will see that some recurring characters return to the stage, including Jitendra Prasad, and Bryan Ward.

The Semashkewiches and Mr. Eldassouki began working together in 2022, according to court records, under an arrangement in which Mr. Eldassouki would help identify projects for the Semashkewiches’ business.

Not long after that, the Semashkewiches claim in the lawsuit they were introduced to a man named Fred, who told Lewis Semashkewich he would control Melewka Homes’ payments on projects identified by Mr. Eldassouki and could put an end to them at any time. In their court submissions, the Semashkewiches said it was “made apparent” to them that Fred had “considerable control” over the construction work and the government officials behind them.

According to the Semashkewiches’ court filings, they later learned that Fred was, in fact, Sam Mraiche. In addition to being Mr. Mraiche’s brother-in-law, Mr. Eldassouki has served as a senior executive at two of Mr. Mraiche’s companies, including MHCare.

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The Semashkewiches’ deal with Mr. Eldassouki soon led to new business, the counterclaim shows. After being selected to build two apartment complexes for the Métis Nation of Alberta in 2023, in early 2024 the contractor was tapped to build recovery centres in the three Indigenous communities.

But the arrangement between the two companies would ultimately become strained as the contractor allegedly faced demands for money from Mr. Mraiche and Mr. Eldassouki on its construction projects, according to the Semashkewiches’ claim.

During one phone call between Lewis Semashkewich and Mr. Mraiche, the latter told Mr. Semashkewich he had the government connections necessary to “pull” Melewka Homes’ projects and indicated he had ties to a senior executive at the Métis Nation, a man named Aaron Barner, the Semashkewiches’ claim alleges. “I own Barner and he will do what I say,” Mr. Mraiche is alleged to have said.

After that conversation, Mr. Barner allegedly told Mr. Semashkewich that meetings between the Métis Nation and Melewka Homes were cancelled until further notice, effectively pausing the project. According to the Semashkewiches’ submission, work only resumed after Mr. Semashkewich authorized the release of funds to Mr. Eldassouki. In his court submissions, Mr. Eldassouki denies exerting pressure on the Semashkewiches or making improper requests for payment.

Mr. Barner, for his part, says in a statement of defence that he asked that the Semashkewiches cease contact in response to “repeated and improper communications” between Melewka Homes and Métis Nation personnel. Mr. Barner also denies he is a business associate of Mr. Mraiche and Mr. Eldassouki, and says he did not act on anyone’s instruction. A lawyer for Mr. Barner did not comment.

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During another meeting, this time at MHCare’s offices, Mr. Mraiche allegedly demanded an “exorbitant amount of money” and threatened to use his connections to cancel Melewka Homes’ projects, the Semashkewiches claim in their lawsuit. To demonstrate his influence, Mr. Mraiche allegedly called “his friend J.P.,” an Alberta government insider, and put him on speakerphone. According to the Semashkewiches’ submission, Lewis Semashkewich understands this man to be Jitendra Prasad, who was then a senior procurement official for the Alberta government. Last year, The Globe documented Mr. Prasad’s involvement in the Alberta Health Services procurement controversy and his ties to Mr. Mraiche. A lawyer for Mr. Prasad did not respond to The Globe’s requests for comment.

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The Semashkewiches also say in their court submission that the lawyer they hired to handle payments on two of the three recovery centres – and who allegedly came at the recommendation of Mr. Eldassouki – improperly sent nearly $7-million to Mr. Eldassouki’s company. Public records show that the lawyer, a man named Bryan Ward, has acted for Mr. Mraiche on several occasions, including in a civil lawsuit, in real estate transactions and in a dispute with Elections Alberta. Mr. Ward denies having acted improperly in his statement of defence, and his lawyer did not comment.

Alberta's Smith says she took private flight on behalf of Saudi government

Danielle Smith invoked the Notwithstanding Clause to force teachers to return to work last fall, but was no where to be found when discussion/debate was expected shortly after the decision. Albertans learned that Smith took off on a trip to the Middle East.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/edmonton/article/smiths-trip-to-middle-east-draws-criticism-amid-back-to-school-mandate/

At the time, people questioned the timing. Now, Albertans are learning that the trips were lavish, and apparently vetted by the Ethics Commissioner. Yet again, raising the issue that the Ethics Commissioner has long since been visibly disarmed in addressing real issues of Ethics.

Also, in 2026, after the US started its disastrous war on Iran, dubbed Operation Epic Fury, the world quickly learned that the US was unable to control the war. In the weeks that followed, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in severe global supply shocks in oil, helium, fertilizer, among other products. Additionally, Iran has shown selective strikes to GCC countries have also resulted in massive impact to production capacity in general within the Middle East. With the economic feedback loop between the GCC and the US being rattled, there’s a real concern that the US could suffer a multi-generational blow to its reputation and its economy.

In this context, Danielle Smith technically visited a competitor in the energy sector, but also a major US ally and strategic partner in the GCC. Given the lavish sums of money spent on the visit, Danielle Smith’s trip now appears to be part of what may be a domesticating project carried out by the GCC on behalf of the US - among other parties. As Nenshi highlights, “the trip cost Alberta taxpayers some $64,000, and questioned Smith’s claim that there was limited commercial airline services between the two centres, saying it was one of the most popular commercial flight paths in the world.”

Once Albertans also recall that Smith took off on a $20,000 trip to Florida for PragerU, one has to wonder why Smith needs these lavish trips in the first place, and did they offer any value to Alberta?

Podcasters at centre of alleged Alberta health harassment campaign ask for case against them to be thrown out

https://kopitalk.net/c/canada/p/325746/podcasters-at-centre-of-alleged-alberta-health-harassment-campaign-ask-for-case-against

Danielle Smith says court 'skewed' to Liberal donors, but UCP picks have political ties just as often

Smith’s UCP has increasingly consolidated power, it’s core comprising of monied separatists, and American Oil and Gas interests.

With the UCP party apparatus captured, and the Alberta Legislature arguably in a spiral, Smith presses the attack on the Judicial Branch of government. She intends to break the other branches in order to avoid accountability for corruption.

In “Danielle Smith says court ‘skewed’ to Liberal donors, but UCP picks have political ties just as often”, by Jason Markusoff, Smith and the UCP are caught playing word games with the public. Again, using her history in legacy media, and crafting clickbait statements for headlines, she’s cynically pinging sonar for how much public attention is directed at her.

Premier Danielle Smith wielded a striking figure earlier this month to make her case for giving her province more say in how the federal government picks upper court judges for Alberta.

“Especially since 80 per cent of the judges or so have been demonstrated to have Liberal party donations, I don’t know why anyone would think that the process we have right now is free of politics,” she told reporters.

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This is in line with a 2023 investigation by the National Post and the Investigative Journalism Foundation. It found that while 76.3 per cent of the federally appointed judges who made donations have given to the governing Liberals, only 18.3 per cent of the 1,308 judicial and tribunal appointees examined had given to anybody at all.

This means that nationally, 14 per cent of those federal appointees gave to the Liberal party before getting picked.

The big questions Danielle Smith poses to Albertans as referendums

Desperation Is Not Policy

There was once a time when Alberta’s politicians had some tact when dealing with the public. But, with a Premier facing allegations of corruption, she’s giving Alberta one of the most cynical displays of political survival Canada has ever seen. A display that the Premier backed herself into, and is spiralling down. We’re in a death spiral of sorts because Smith has started a loop of incentives that she won’t stop chasing. She’s not just ready to sell the metaphorical family farm, she’s prepared to dump all the family savings and the kids college funds into a new crypto coin she learned about last week and her wallet password is jesustakethewheel.

https://rabble.ca/politics/canadian-politics/the-new-country-albertas-separatist-minority-is-dreaming-of-would-never-be-a-real-democracy/

https://albertaviews.ca/the-case-for-sticking-around/

If Canadians were to look at Smith at face value, then perhaps the issue may be Alberta seeking a new identity that’s separate and distinct from Canada. An overwhelming majority of Albertans are not interested in separating from Canada. Full stop. For God’s sake we can’t even get a hockey team to win the Stanley Cup with some of the greatest players on the planet, there’s no way there’s enough competence here to run the full affairs of a state. For Canadians then, I suggest to you that the issue out of Alberta is not separation, but rather Danielle Smith’s interests of self-preservation.

A look over some of the articles related to separation and for Canada fall into two groups. In one group would be warnings of some of the negative things that Albertans can expect from separation. In the other group, are generally highlights of the positives of remaining in Canada.

I’ve Got A Question

But, rather than revisiting the merits of Canada, which others have already done so eloquently, I want to do what you might expect, and look at Danielle Smith. There’s plenty of material out there to review so I’ll keep it brief by recapping these core points:

First, Albertans are aware of the CorruptCare cluster of contracts to varying degrees. But regardless of public engagement, there’s a real probability that the Premier herself was implicated in the contracts, and that her role was not nearly as pedestrian as she claims.

Second, a number of her caucus are also involved in the same cluster of contracts.

Third, there may be criminal and civil consequences to these contracts.

Fourth, Danielle Smith is in power and intends to remain in power for as long as possible to avoid said consequences.

From where I stand, the question isn’t whether Alberta should separate, or the merits of separation. My question is probably what Smith is asking: how does such a politician facing career changing scandal, survive scandal WITH power?

My rough answer is what we can all guess. The Politician - just like the gambler who has set a limit and destroyed it years ago - needs to cut down the number of people who she owes, and satisfy these people just enough - and not a penny more - so she doesn’t over extend. What we’re seeing in Danielle Smith then, is a laser focus on personal survival. Her current agenda has retreated back to her own party, and anyone who’s prepared to pay for membership in the UCP.

As long as she meets the expectations of those who pay up, and those who expect to be paid, then she’ll maintain the backing of the powers that be. For obvious reasons, we can guess that her current major backers are the separatists who may be funded by the Americans, Oil and Gas players, and private healthcare service providers who just want to break open a public good and all that sweet money inside.

Each of these major players are greedy as they should be in a capitalist system. Each will push Smith deeper into the depths because she knows, that they know, she’s desperate.

But, each of these players understand that they too will still be around for probably longer than Smith. They won’t be interested in overplaying their hands if they understand that it will lead to consequences that they care about.

So Danielle will gamble. She’ll keep gambling because stopping means the end. She’ll keep betting it all because there’s no other move left. She’ll keep going until she’s forced to consider the needs of others beyond those in her circle of power. She won’t do it voluntarily.

It’s About Mr Clean

Under this “theory”, I suspect that Danielle herself doesn’t even care about separation. She cares about power. If the separatists demanded that Albertans declare their undying love of Mr Clean, and they were prepared to dump the same money and energy into the UCP for that end, I suspect Danielle would shave her head instead.

I’m no separatist. I’m Canadian. But, in light of the UCP and Danielle Smith’s announcement for referendum, it’s time to point out what’s being rubbed in our collective faces: the tyranny of Alberta’s minorities have captured the UCP, and brought their asylum directly to us.

Her circle of power has money. Some of them may be real invaders. Danielle’s not going to consider the interests of all Albertans unless she’s forced to pay a massive price in either power or money or both.

We all know that polls, referendums, and even elections can be a means to an end for autocrats and dictators. They’re manipulated, they’re worded funny, they’re interpreted endlessly, and they may just be designed to waste Canada’s energy and resources.

Don’t play into what’s essentially public polling done at Canada’s expense.

Danielle’s addicted to her own supply.