eHealth Ontario buddy system

[capricorn]

If it is proven that Dalton has done what it sure looks like he's done then he's done something very, very wrong.

McGuinty hand picked Hudson who hand picked Kramer. McGuinty was so intent in appointing Hudson he agreed to making the hiring of Kramer a condition of his acceptance. Now, he is contrite.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that he was personally responsible for appointing Sarah Kramer as chief executive officer of eHealth Ontario and hiring her was a “mistake.”

Mr. McGuinty said he relied on the advice of Alan Hudson, his hand-picked choice for chairman of the agency, in approving Ms. Kramer's appointment last October.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politi...article1250044/

Liberals helping Liberals.

[Michael Hardner]

The politicians in these stories come off as hayseeds walking into the big city with dollars falling out of their pockets, asking to be ripped off.

There are large organizations who have done this sort of thing for years, that could have been hired through an open tender. Instead, McGuinty gets somebody he knows to run the show.

The real problem with socialized healthcare as it works in Canada is that ultimately it's run as an arm of the political machine. A lawyer/politican like McGuinty will only act in conjunction with the popular sentiment.

This is why it's imperative that people from all sides of the political spectrum in Ontario to talk about this situation and to not accept it.

[capricorn]

The Ontario Liberal buddy system has spilled over into the Education department. The same group involved in the e-Health scandal were at the trough once again.

Courtyard Group, the same firm that made headlines this spring for its untendered work at eHealth Ontario, was awarded without competition a contract worth about $430,000 to study how the province's colleges and universities should expand, especially given rising demand for undergraduate spots in the Toronto area.

That contract, released to The Globe and Mail after a freedom-of-information request, shows that Courtyard's John Ronson, who co-chaired the 1995 Liberal campaign, billed the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities $450-an-hour to hop-scotch across the province visiting leaders at 55 campuses last fall, often with other members of his staff.

---

For a January dinner with “three Toronto university presidents” and a meeting with his project team, Mr. Ronson charged the government $1,350 for his time.

The documents also show Courtyard repaid the province $6,354.94 out of about $15,000 in travel expenses on June 11 – shortly after the eHealth scandal broke.

In the case of eHealth, Courtyard was given contracts worth about $2-million to help the province move to electronic heath records, but it was the manner in which many consultants billed taxpayers for small items that caused the greatest uproar.

A spokeswomen for the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities said it no longer has a record of the expenses that were repaid. She said the repayment involved, in part, the cost of hotel rooms.

----

John Milloy, Minister of Training Colleges and Universities, said Courtyard was chosen to complete the work because of its record of planning for the health sector.

“We reached out to Courtyard because in had experience in long-term capital planning in the health field,” he said.

Courtyard also was recommended by Paul Genest, who was then president of the Council of Ontario Universities, Mr. Milloy said.

----

The minister said he had not met Mr. Ronson before the consulting contract and did not approve his selection. The contract was not tendered, he said, because of time considerations.

“I was very anxious to get moving on the long-term capital planning process,” he said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nation...article1271309/

Scandals with e-Health, the Ontario Lottery Corporation and now the Education department. But, do not be concerned. Premier Teflon Dalton has ordered a review of all provincial agencies to make sure that taxpayers' money is spent wisely. My question is this. If Liberals keep appointing their cronies will scandals really ever go away?