News

Buried deep in the 2010 Budget Papers, the McGuinty Liberals quietly cancelled a legislative review of the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) bureaucracies.

Under the Local Health Systems Integration Act, 2006, the McGuinty Government is legally required to subject the LHINs to a full public legislative review by March 28, 2010. Rather than be forced to subject the LHINs to public scrutiny, the McGuinty Liberals have instead buried a provision on page 164 of the Budget that would eliminate the obligation to hold this review.

The decision to remove accountability provisions from the LHINs legislation is just the latest example of how far Dalton McGuinty is prepared to go in order to hide his government’s dirty secrets. Previously, the McGuinty Liberals acted quickly to block the reappointment of Ontario Ombudsman André Marin after they obtained a confidential draft report of his own LHIN investigation.

Despite this elaborate secrecy, the Ontario PC Caucus has nonetheless obtained evidence confirming that Dalton McGuinty’s LHIN bureaucracies have handed out at least $7 million in untendered contracts, involving many of the same players who got rich off of the Liberal eHealth scandal. Most shocking of all is the fact that at least a half-dozen of these untendered consulting contracts were handed out well after Dalton McGuinty’s much-publicized ‘ban’ of untendered consulting contracts throughout government.

Quotes

– Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak

– Lisa MacLeod Ontario PC MPP for Nepean – Carleton and Critic for Accountability

Quick Facts

On the cover-up:

• Ontario’s LHIN bureaucracies were created by a standalone piece legislation which created the Local Health Integration Networks in the “Local Health Systems Act 2006”. This legislation received Royal Assent on March 28, 2006.

• The “Local Health Systems Act 2006” calls for a public Legislative Committee review of the LHINs to begin no later than four years after the act receives Royal Assent (March 28, 2010).

• On page 164 of the 2010 Budget, the McGuinty Liberals propose rewriting the Act to remove this requirement and replace it with a vague commitment to conduct their own “thorough review of the Act and the powers available to Local Health Integration Networks”. There is no deadline for this internal review nor is there any guarantee that it will be made public.

On the scandal

• The Ontario PC Caucus has used Ontario’s Freedom of Information Laws to reveal that Dalton McGuinty’s LHIN bureaucracies were engaged in the same binge of untendered contracts that were behind the Liberal eHealth scandal.

• To date over $7 million worth of untendered contracts have been discovered at the LHINs, including untendered contracts for the eHealth-linked Liberal-friendly Courtyard Group.

• On June 17, 2009, Dalton McGuinty issued an edict supposedly banning untendered contracts throughout the Ontario government.

• Despite this edict, the pattern of handing out untendered contracts continued at the LHINS where, on at least a half-dozen separate occasions McGuinty’s own LHINs appointees ignored this edict and continued the practice.

• On June 25, 2009 – only eight days after the McGuinty edict – the Central LHIN handed out an untendered contract.

• On October 1, 2009, the Waterloo – Wellington LHIN handed out an untendered contract.

• On July 20, 2009, the Erie – St. Clair LHIN handed out an untendered contract.

• On July 27, 2009, the Erie – St. Clair LHIN handed out a second untendered contract.

• On July 29, 2009, the Waterloo – Wellington LHIN handed out an untendered contract extension.

• On November 9, 2009, the Waterloo – Wellington LHIN handed out a second untendered contract extension.