An Ontario Auditor’s report recently exposed a new version of the eHealth scandal when it was revealed that taxpayers’ money was still being funnelled to Liberal-friendly consultants long after Premier Dalton McGuinty promised to kill such payments in the aftermath of the original scandal.
In the first version, about $1 billion was spent on consultants to produce a digital health care information system, but nothing of substance was actually produced.
A number of senior Liberal appointees were forced to resign very lucrative jobs in the wake of these revelations.
More recently it was revealed that the Ministry of Health spent $223.7 million on consultants in the last three years, including money given to hospitals by the province and then used by those hospitals to lobby the ministry of health.
Not only was taxpayers’ money being used by a government agency to lobby the government, but often these contracts were handed to the highest bidder because that bidder had done previous work.
I was so angry when this was revealed that I should have been thrown out of the legislature for my comments. Even the Liberal Speaker of the House didn’t have the heart to toss me, because deep-down he knew I was right.
According to the auditor this eHealth 2.0 scandal operated in much the same way as the original eHealth scandal with consultants filling senior management positions at hospitals.
One such consultant was paid $275,000 annually and claimed $97,000 in fees and $50,000 in administrative support services.
Another consultant took a vacation to Japan and piggybacked the costs onto a business trip to Hong Kong. Ontario taxpayers paid his expenses and his billing fees charged while on vacation. That consultant did later reimburse taxpayers for half the airfare but only when he was caught. What lesson was learned? What penalty was meted out? None.
We have to remember that Premier McGuinty promised no more open-ended contracts, as well as contracts without a full tendering process and stringent oversight on expenses and fees. Mr. McGuinty has failed to deliver on any of these promises. Sound familiar?
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Ted Chudleigh
Quelle/Source: Inside Halton, 03.11.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
