Is Ontario Liberal party looking other way on eHealth scandal?

Ontario released documents yesterday pertaining to the eHealth scandal, which had come to light earlier this year. The documents show that the value of untendered contracts that were handed out was at least $14 million more than was first thought.

While the dollar count of the scandal continues to increase, jumping from about $5 million in June to the now revealed $19 million in untendered contracts alone, Ontario's Health Minister, David Caplan is still refusing to resign. The release of documents follows on the heels of the the cancellation of the investigation Caplan had called into the scandal on June 1. Caplan had hired PriceWaterhouseCooper to conduct an independent audit of eHealth. NDP Health and Longterm Care critic, France Gélinas responded to the cancellation of the audit saying,

“Who is the Minister trying to fool? The consultants [PriceWaterhouseCooper] were on the case for almost two months. What did they find and how much did it cost taxpayers? If there is a preliminary report, Ontarians deserve to see it.”

Caplan rationalized his decision by saying the third party audit would cost taxpayers too much money, as it would only be a copy of a pre-existing audit being undertaken by Ontario's Auditor, Jim McCarter. The Auditor's report is expected to be released in December 2009, if not earlier. PriceWaterhouseCooper had reviewed eHealth earlier this year, giving the agency a "passing grade for its internal controls." Caplan said that Ontario's Auditor had requested that the province drop the PriceWaterhouseCooper audit. David Caplan is holding firm to his position that he hasn't done anything wrong, and he has no intention of resigning over the issue. The opposition is upset that Caplan has released the documents during the summer break, and for having cancelled the independent audit. The NDP party asked Ontario's Auditor to investigate potential links between the government of Ontario and one of the contractors involved in the eHealth scandal, Courtyard Group. Courtyard Group's founder, John Ronson, was the co-chair of the Liberal election campaign in 1995. Courtyard Group received at least $2 million in untendered contracts for eHealth in 2009. Courtyard Group calls itself healthcare specialists who "transform health care." According to the site, Ronson has had extensive involvement with the government of Ontario over the years. Dalton McGuinty apologized to Ontario residents in June and introduced new rules for the hiring of consultants. While the documents just released by the McGuinty government on eHealth consist of six large binders, and will take time to go through, the press has learned that the former head of eHealth, Sarah Kramer, who was let go with a compensation package worth over $300,000 in early June, regularly took limousines to travel while she was head of eHealth, billing the Province for the expense. The Progressive Conservative opposition leader, Tim Hudak, told press,

"This kind of abuse of taxpayers' dollars is outrageous and I want to know whose head is going to roll."