• Good morning. The Alberta government says it has cancelled negotiations with two companies owned in part by Sam Mraiche. Today, we take a closer look at the Edmonton entrepreneur whose pandemic-era deals, political connections, and skybox hockey nights have put him at the centre of a growing controversy.

Banks: Fairstone Bank of Canada is buying Laurentian Bank of Canada in an all-cash deal worth $1.9-billion. Laurentian is also selling its retail business to the National Bank of Canada.

Housing: Federal spending on housing is projected to drop by more than half over the next three years, a finding that is at odds with the Liberal Party’s campaign pledge.

Mining: Global mining giants Vale and Glencore are evaluating a joint venture in Sudbury that could lead to a US$2-billion copper project that would extract the critical mineral over more than two decades.

Sam Mraiche was growing impatient.

On the other end of the line was Iqbal Sunderani, the chief executive of BTNX Inc., the company supplying COVID-19 rapid tests to Mraiche’s firm, MHCare Medical Corp. MHCare was working to secure COVID-19 test kits for Alberta Health Services.

Sunderani was explaining why the rapid tests were not arriving as quickly as MHCare wanted. Governments in Ottawa and Ontario were ahead in the queue, he said. Manufacturers were behind. There was only so much he could do.

“Do you know what you’re doing to me, Iqbal?” Mraiche said during the call in February of 2022, according to transcripts filed as part of a lawsuit over the deal. “I don’t only sell rapid test kits. I’m one of the biggest constructors here, too. Do you know what you’ve done to me? I’ve had so much mud thrown on my face, it’s not even funny.”

“You better hope there’s another wave that needs rapid tests,” he continued later in the call.

“Sam, that’s – that’s a bad thing to hope for,” Sunderani replied.

“Is it? Me and you are in the business.”

“Sam, you know what? At the end of the day I don’t know about you, but I’ve made enough money. I don’t want to wish –”

“Has Jeff Bezos made enough money yet?”

“I don’t care who Jeff Bezos is,” Sunderani said. “He has – I mean, I don’t want to wish –”

“No one’s wishing anything. It’s just going with the flow,” Mraiche said.

A month after that call, BTNX sued MHCare, alleging the company failed to pay for more than 200,000 test kits and refused to pay for a truckload delivered in error. MHCare countersued, alleging BTNX overcharged, caused it to lose money and damaged its reputation. The two companies remain in litigation, and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

The exchange surfaced during a multinational investigation by The Globe and Mail into Mraiche’s rise – from early legal and financial trouble in Edmonton to a sprawling business portfolio in Alberta and overseas, including more than 60 civil court disputes, before his company MHCare became a major supplier of masks, gowns and other equipment to Alberta Health Services during the pandemic.

In Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, his family’s home region, he’s regarded as a generous donor who helped residents after the 2020 Beirut port explosion – including the donation of a badly needed ambulance to the town of Joub Jannine. (When The Globe visited in the spring, the ambulance sat parked near the town centre, adorned with the words, “Sponsored by: Sam Mraiche.”)

In Canada, as MHCare’s business expanded, so did his proximity to political power – playing host to politicians and later appearing in photos with the Alberta Premier and senior officials at NHL playoff games.

Mraiche’s connections to senior political staff and government decision-makers were more extensive than previously reported – including being present with the premier’s top advisers in a private suite on election night in 2023, the investigation revealed.

Those revelations have intensified scrutiny of Mraiche’s business dealings with the province, which are now the subject of examinations by Alberta’s Auditor-General and the RCMP.

In a wrongful-dismissal suit, former AHS chief executive Athana Mentzelopoulos alleges she was fired for investigating alleged conflicts of interest between her staff and certain companies. She also alleges she was under pressure from the Smith government to proceed with contracts with private surgical facilities in which Mraiche is a part-owner. Yesterday, the province announced it was cancelling those deals.

Mraiche, through his lawyer, denies any suggestion of improper conduct and says his companies were built through work ethic and entrepreneurship.