The fact that the Ontario Liberal Government’s eHealth plan appears to have been nothing more than a mechanism to shovel money into friendly pockets isn’t news anymore. But what is news is that Dalton McGuinty and Health Minister David Caplan appear to have been lying when they suggested PriceWaterhouseCooper was retained to perform an independent audit of eHealth’s books.
The CBC is reporting that no contract was ever signed.
This despite the fact that Dalton McGuity said (in June):
I think we need to wait for the report coming from PricewaterhouseCoopers. We need to wait for the information and the advice to come from the auditor.
David Caplan also dodged questions in the legislature saying he looked:
…forward to the recommendations and insights they might have on ways in which we can strengthen the financial controls and the management practices at eHealth.
The NDP, however, has newly released documents obtained under Freedom of Information show that no contract was ever awarded to PriceWaterhouseCooper – a fact that has been confirmed not only by PriceWaterhouseCooper but also by the board of eHealth Ontario itself.
So if there was never a signed agreement exactly why did McGuinty and Caplan deflect questions saying they were waiting for a report?
Perhaps, they were hoping it would be enough to placate critics until the parliamentary break. After all, it’s a handy excuse. I guess they didn’t think anyone would bother to follow up.
As a final bit of irony, when asked why the agreement wasn’t signed Dianna Allen, a senior-VP with eHealth, said:
When looking at value for money, it was not the best course of action.
That’s right, because after handing out $16 million in untendered contracts – many to Liberal-friendly consulting companies – it’s clearly obvious the first thing the folks at eHealth are worried about is obtaining good value for taxpayer dollars.
It probably has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that PriceWaterhouseCooper, unlike the government auditor that is currently examining the books, would perform a truely independent audit and would – most likely – expose the true extent of the shenanigans eHealth is involved in.
Hopefully the provincial Liberals won’t be able to sweep this under the rug.
- Rafael.
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