November 20, 2025
RED FM News Desk
Alberta’s Auditor General has issued a sharply critical report on the province’s brief and costly shift to DynaLife for community lab services, outlining a series of major missteps that ultimately cost taxpayers an estimated $109 million.
In a 48-page limited review, Auditor General Doug Wylie says Alberta Health Services (AHS) withheld some information requested by his office. Even with restricted access, he found serious problems in how the privatization was executed.
Key concerns included inadequate due diligence, weak risk assessment by AHS, and a decision to proceed despite clear signs the move would not deliver the projected savings. The report also points to former health minister Adriana LaGrange as having pushed the transition, with her department allegedly undermining AHS during the process.
The province signed a 15-year contract with DynaLife in spring 2022 to fully privatize lab testing. Less than a year after the transition, the government reversed course, buying out DynaLife in a multi-million-dollar deal that returned services to Alberta Precision Labs (APL), a division of AHS. LaGrange acknowledged problems at the time, having been tasked after the 2023 election with fixing widespread delays in lab services.
A memorandum of understanding guided the transfer of staff, equipment, and property back to APL by the end of 2023. According to Wylie’s report, the buyout cost alone totaled $32 million including liabilities, with an additional $77 million deemed sunk costs.
The province had initially projected $102 million in savings, based on an Ernst & Young review commissioned by the UCP to identify potential cost reductions within Alberta Health Services.
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