One day after quitting cabinet and calling out his own government, Peter Guthrie returned to the house Wednesday, sat in the back row and looked at his phone while the Opposition NDP used his words to attack his colleagues.
A day earlier, Guthrie announced he was quitting as infrastructure minister, saying his cabinet colleagues did not share his concerns about acting on issues surrounding questionable government purchasing practices.
Those practices have been in the spotlight since the former head of Alberta Health Services sued the government on Feb. 12, alleging she was wrongly fired for investigating lavish contracts, favouritism and high-level government interference in multimillion-dollar health contracts.
Guthrie, who represents Airdrie-Cochrane, remains in Premier Danielle Smith’s United Conservative caucus but now sits as a backbencher with no cabinet responsibilities.
He came to the house for question period Wednesday, climbing the marble stairs to get inside while telling reporters he had nothing more to say.
“For right now, I think I just want to hold tight (and) make no more comments about it,” said Guthrie, who remains in the UCP fold after what he called a “long” caucus meeting on Wednesday morning.
In the house, Guthrie no longer had his seat on the front bench.
Instead, he sat in the back row next to controversial United Conservative Jennifer Johnson. Johnson, the MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka, was kept out of caucus for a while after comparing transgender school students to “adding a teaspoon of feces to a batch of cookies.”
The two shared laughs and passed notes back and forth.
A few other fellow UCP members turned to chat briefly with him during question period, including fellow Airdrie-area MLA Angela Pitt and Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA Justin Wright.
At one point, a page delivered to him a note from another member of the assembly. He read it without much reaction before ripping it and throwing it out.
Otherwise — as Opposition NDP MLAs renewed their attacks in question period on Smith and Health Minister Adriana LaGrange over their handling of the health-contract scandal — Guthrie’s attention largely remained on his phone as he slouched back in his chair.
“(LaGrange is) trying to bob and weave around questions she doesn’t want to address, but her shaky non-answers are not fooling Albertans,” NDP member Rakhi Pancholi told the house, adding she agrees with Guthrie’s public statements that a government cannot investigate itself.
“The minister doesn’t have the trust of her colleagues or Albertans, so why doesn’t she just step down?” Pancholi asked.
LaGrange responded: “I’ve spent my life as a servant leader making sure that I do the right thing.
“I, as well as the premier, want to make sure that the auditor general has everything that they need, as well as an independent review that will get truly to the bottom of this issue.”
The auditor general is investigating the procurement allegations and Smith has promised a government probe led by an independent third party.
NDP member Rob Miyashiro also called for LaGrange to step down.
“Why is she choosing to remain in her position, dragging out the scandal by preventing a public inquiry instead of getting out of the way and allowing someone to fix problems this minister has created?” asked Miyashiro.
In response, government house leader Joseph Schow stood up in place of LaGrange and said she didn’t need to answer “that ridiculous question.”
The UCP caucus members applauded and pounded their desks in approval.
Guthrie sat still.