Health Minister Adriana LaGrange is alleging the former CEO of Alberta Health Services was unwilling to implement the government’s plan to break up the health authority, and made “incendiary and inaccurate allegations about political intrigue and impropriety” before she was fired in January.

Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange filed her statement of defence in an Edmonton court Thursday, saying the former chief executive officer of the provincial health authority was fired because “she couldn’t do her job despite having been given many opportunities to do so.”

Alberta’s front line health agency says it fired its leader earlier this year not because she was investigating corruption but because she was an “alarming” failure at her job.

Former AHS CEO Athana Mentzelopoulos filed a $1.7 million lawsuit last month against LaGrange and Alberta Health Services (AHS), alleging she was fired for looking into possible high-level government interference, as well as overpays on multi-million dollar contracts.

Alberta’s frontline health agency says it fired its leader earlier this year not because she was investigating corruption but because she was a profound failure at her job.

"Former CEO Athana Mentzelopoulus" was not fired by AHS because she commenced an investigation. She was not fired as part of a conspiracy to stop an investigation," says a statement of defence for LaGrange, Red Deer-North MLA, filed in Edmonton Court of King's Bench on Thursday.