The ousted CEO of scandal-plagued eHealth Ontario liked to travel in style on the taxpayers' dime, billing repeatedly for limousine rides, while members of the agency's board were reimbursed for flights from as far away as Florida to attend meetings in Toronto.
After weeks of watching details trickle out about spending and expense abuses at eHealth, the Liberal government on Wednesday released hundreds of pages of receipts, day-planners, meeting minutes and other documents from the troubled agency.
The government wanted to be as transparent as possible, said Health Minister David Caplan, so it released all of the documents at one time. But the opposition parties accused him of trying to bury the story under mountains of paper.
"I think it's in the public's interest for us to be transparent and accountable, and that's why we're handing out the information in an open and unaltered way," Caplan said in an interview.
The New Democrats dismissed Caplan's explanation.
"They're trying to flood everyone with information with the hopes the whole smelly mess will go away sooner rather than later, and I don't think the people of Ontario are gong to buy that," said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
EHealth CEO Sara Kramer resigned in June, as did board chair Dr. Alan Hudson, after the opposition parties complained about $5 million in untendered contracts awarded to consultants by eHealth, a figure that has since grown to about $15 million.
Six large binders full of documents released Wednesday show eHealth, and its predecessor agency Smart Systems for Health, spent nearly $82 million on consultants in 2007 and 2008. It's not clear how many of the contracts were awarded without competitive bidding.
"It keeps growing and growing," said Opposition Leader Tim Hudak.
"I worry this is just the tip of the iceberg of the McGuinty government growing far too comfortable and far too fat in office," the Progressive Conservative party leader said.
Board members billed for Florida flights, road tolls
The papers show Kramer billed for limo rides whenever she travelled for eHealth, including one $400 ride from Toronto to London, along with seeking reimbursement for meals at expensive restaurants.
EHealth board member Khalil Barsoum billed taxpayers nearly $2,400 for a round-trip flight from Florida, car rentals and road tolls to attend a board meeting in Toronto.
"This kind of abuse of taxpayers' dollars is outrageous and I want to know whose head is going to roll," said Hudak.
"To have someone flown back and forth to board meetings is the height of entitlement and that really is outrageous," added Horwath.
EHealth said Wednesday it will try to lower the travel expenses by holding future meetings when Barsoum is already in Toronto, but Caplan said the board would no longer approve the out-of-country travel claim.
"I've been assured that moving forward, the board members' travel expenses from Florida will no longer be reimbursed," said Caplan.
Another board member who lives in Ottawa, Heather Sherrard, is reimbursed for flying back and forth to Toronto to attend eHealth meetings, while Toronto-based board member Michael Decter billed for $10 cab rides to and from each meeting, for which he is paid $380 to attend, and another $380 for preparation time.
Both opposition parties are angry with the government for cancelling a promised third-party review of eHealth by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which Caplan had promised would "provide us with the proper advice, guidance and recommendations."
After the eHealth documents were released, Hudak said, "I think we understand now why the Liberals quietly dropped the PriceWaterhouseCoopers review in the dog days of summer.
"Somebody's head's gotta roll. The minister has to go."
The New Democrats also called for Caplan's head over the eHealth scandal, which also saw consultants who were being paid $2,700 a day billing taxpayers extra for snacks and beverages.
"The stench of this scandal continues to grow and the government has done nothing to put it at the feet of the minister, which is where it should have been," said Horwath.
EHealth Ontario was set up last September to replace Smart Systems for Health, another provincial agency which had spent $650 million trying to create electronic health records, but produced virtually nothing of value.
CBC
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Ex-cop sent to jail for fraud, lying to judge
July 28, 2009
Barbara Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 28, 2009)
A former Hamilton cop who retired in disgrace two decades ago was convicted yesterday of further crimes of dishonesty and sentenced to 30 months in a penitentiary.
Randy Bailey, 56, pleaded guilty to defrauding Wilson, Blanchard Management Inc. of close to $530,000 and to fabricating the minutes of meetings of condominium boards of directors and altering financial statements of their corporations in order to cover up his lying and swindling.
Bailey also pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying to Superior Court Justice Stephen Glithero while he was representing himself in court and to breaching the terms of his release on bail.
The convicted man left the Hamilton police department under a dark cloud in the mid-1980s when he and another officer, Doug Woods, were convicted of fabricating evidence and conspiring to pervert the course of justice during the infamous "vice squad" scandal.
Those convictions stemmed from a raid by vice officers on the home of a Hamilton man accused of running an after-hours booze can. A judge found Bailey fabricated a sign -- "All Drinks $2 -- to shore up the bootlegging case against the suspect. Bailey was sentenced to a prison term of two years, nine months.
Raymond Wilson, president of Wilson, Blanchard, said in a victim-impact statement filed yesterday that he hired Bailey and for 15 years considered him a valued and trusted employee. When he first heard about frauds, Wilson said, "I felt anxious and ill and could not believe the allegations."
The judge issued a restitution order against Bailey for nearly $530,000, but Wilson said the company has suffered $1.7 million in other damages associated with the forensic investigation, legal costs, lost business and the lost productivity of three full-time employees who were assigned to sort out the mess.
Wilson said it would not be an exaggeration to say he and others have suffered depression, anxiety and loss of sleep after realizing the full extent of Bailey's criminal conduct and how it had damaged the company, management, employees and clients.
The frauds came to light when an owner of one condominium unit complained to the management company about condo fees being raised despite the building falling into disrepair and no major work getting done.
An internal investigation revealed Bailey, who managed about 12 or 15 condo properties, had been submitting false invoices for maintenance and repair work. He also stole larger sums of cash from condo reserve funds -- which owners contribute to annually to cover major repairs such as roof and window replacements -- and altered the minutes of board meetings and audited financial statements.
Assistant Crown attorney Michael Fox said Bailey and his wife had been living a lifestyle to which they were not properly entitled and the money was "frittered away" on expensive European vacations, a horse and trailer, luxury vehicles and home renovations.
bbrown@thespec.com
905-526-3494
The Spec
Barbara Brown
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jul 28, 2009)
A former Hamilton cop who retired in disgrace two decades ago was convicted yesterday of further crimes of dishonesty and sentenced to 30 months in a penitentiary.
Randy Bailey, 56, pleaded guilty to defrauding Wilson, Blanchard Management Inc. of close to $530,000 and to fabricating the minutes of meetings of condominium boards of directors and altering financial statements of their corporations in order to cover up his lying and swindling.
Bailey also pleaded guilty to obstructing justice by lying to Superior Court Justice Stephen Glithero while he was representing himself in court and to breaching the terms of his release on bail.
The convicted man left the Hamilton police department under a dark cloud in the mid-1980s when he and another officer, Doug Woods, were convicted of fabricating evidence and conspiring to pervert the course of justice during the infamous "vice squad" scandal.
Those convictions stemmed from a raid by vice officers on the home of a Hamilton man accused of running an after-hours booze can. A judge found Bailey fabricated a sign -- "All Drinks $2 -- to shore up the bootlegging case against the suspect. Bailey was sentenced to a prison term of two years, nine months.
Raymond Wilson, president of Wilson, Blanchard, said in a victim-impact statement filed yesterday that he hired Bailey and for 15 years considered him a valued and trusted employee. When he first heard about frauds, Wilson said, "I felt anxious and ill and could not believe the allegations."
The judge issued a restitution order against Bailey for nearly $530,000, but Wilson said the company has suffered $1.7 million in other damages associated with the forensic investigation, legal costs, lost business and the lost productivity of three full-time employees who were assigned to sort out the mess.
Wilson said it would not be an exaggeration to say he and others have suffered depression, anxiety and loss of sleep after realizing the full extent of Bailey's criminal conduct and how it had damaged the company, management, employees and clients.
The frauds came to light when an owner of one condominium unit complained to the management company about condo fees being raised despite the building falling into disrepair and no major work getting done.
An internal investigation revealed Bailey, who managed about 12 or 15 condo properties, had been submitting false invoices for maintenance and repair work. He also stole larger sums of cash from condo reserve funds -- which owners contribute to annually to cover major repairs such as roof and window replacements -- and altered the minutes of board meetings and audited financial statements.
Assistant Crown attorney Michael Fox said Bailey and his wife had been living a lifestyle to which they were not properly entitled and the money was "frittered away" on expensive European vacations, a horse and trailer, luxury vehicles and home renovations.
bbrown@thespec.com
905-526-3494
The Spec
Smokes and Booze smuggling as a second income is Ilegal
This summer has seen two Windsor Police officers charged with smuggling, on July 10 2009 Const. Ronald Hansen was charged with 3 counts of smuggling tabacco in Canada.
On May 1st 2009 Const. Colin Little was charged, the Canadain Border Services Agency has charged him with non-report of goods, making untrue statements and evading the payment of duties.
Both officers are suspended with pay while they face these allegations in a Court of law.
On May 1st 2009 Const. Colin Little was charged, the Canadain Border Services Agency has charged him with non-report of goods, making untrue statements and evading the payment of duties.
Both officers are suspended with pay while they face these allegations in a Court of law.
Another OPP officer in trouble!
Almost every day it seems some officer in the Police State of Ontario gets in some Jackpot, I don't make this stuff up!
Posted By JON WILLING, SUN MEDIA
A veteran Lanark County detective arrived at an investigation Saturday and was arrested by another officer for impaired driving, the OPP says.
Police said officers attended a residence on Roger Stevens Dr. in Montague Twp. for an unrelated investigation. A plainsclothes detective arrived just before 4 p. m. in an unmarked police vehicle to help in the probe.
According to police, an on-duty sergeant observed the detective and arrested him for impaired driving.
Lanark County OPP Det. Const. Steve Brown, who has been a provincial police officer for 15 years, was charged with impaired driving and having an illegal blood-alcohol level. He was released from custody and is expected to appear in Perth court Aug. 31.
North Bay Nugget
Posted By JON WILLING, SUN MEDIA
A veteran Lanark County detective arrived at an investigation Saturday and was arrested by another officer for impaired driving, the OPP says.
Police said officers attended a residence on Roger Stevens Dr. in Montague Twp. for an unrelated investigation. A plainsclothes detective arrived just before 4 p. m. in an unmarked police vehicle to help in the probe.
According to police, an on-duty sergeant observed the detective and arrested him for impaired driving.
Lanark County OPP Det. Const. Steve Brown, who has been a provincial police officer for 15 years, was charged with impaired driving and having an illegal blood-alcohol level. He was released from custody and is expected to appear in Perth court Aug. 31.
North Bay Nugget
Monday, July 27, 2009
Police Officers Charged With Misconduct.
Written by Wawa Police Service
Monday, July 27th, 2009 - 03:15:14
Written by Wawa Police Service
Monday, July 27th, 2009 - 03:15:14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following a lengthy internal investigation, Sgt. John Scott and Sgt. Duane Wenmann of the Wawa Police Service have been charged with several counts of misconduct for violations of the Code of Conduct within the Police Services Act. The charges were laid in 2008, and following preliminary appearances before a Hearing Officer, the matters are now proceeding to trial.
During the course of the investigation the Wawa Police Service enlisted the assistance of the Justice Technology Services I & IT Security Office, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Professional Standards Bureau. Further disciplinary charges have also been laid against Sgt. Wenmann with regard to additional violations of the Code of Conduct.
The Chief of Police has enlisted the services of retired OPP Superintendent Morris Elbers, Q.C., to adjudicate the matter as the Hearing Officer. The hearings commence the week of August 17, 2009, and will be held at the Legion Hall, situated at 51 Broadway Avenue, Wawa Ontario.
Wawa News
Monday, July 27th, 2009 - 03:15:14
Written by Wawa Police Service
Monday, July 27th, 2009 - 03:15:14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following a lengthy internal investigation, Sgt. John Scott and Sgt. Duane Wenmann of the Wawa Police Service have been charged with several counts of misconduct for violations of the Code of Conduct within the Police Services Act. The charges were laid in 2008, and following preliminary appearances before a Hearing Officer, the matters are now proceeding to trial.
During the course of the investigation the Wawa Police Service enlisted the assistance of the Justice Technology Services I & IT Security Office, as well as the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Professional Standards Bureau. Further disciplinary charges have also been laid against Sgt. Wenmann with regard to additional violations of the Code of Conduct.
The Chief of Police has enlisted the services of retired OPP Superintendent Morris Elbers, Q.C., to adjudicate the matter as the Hearing Officer. The hearings commence the week of August 17, 2009, and will be held at the Legion Hall, situated at 51 Broadway Avenue, Wawa Ontario.
Wawa News
Sunday, July 26, 2009
OPP officer charged for Hwy. 140 collision
WELLAND
Tribune staff
An Ontario Provincial Police officer has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act after a motor vehicle collision in Welland earlier this week.
At about 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, July 14 officers from the Niagara Detachment of the OPP Highway Safety Division investigated a collision Hwy. 140 at Enterprise Road in Welland.
The collision involved an on-duty marked OPP cruiser and a civilian vehicle. Neither the officer, nor the other driver, a 59-year-old Port Colborne resident were injured.
An OPP media release says the police vehicle was northbound on Hwy. 140 and was engaged in traffic enforcement. During a manoeuvre, the cruiser came into contact with another vehicle resulting in property damage to both vehicles.
The highway was closed from 10:30 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. to facilitate the investigation.
Provincial Constable Gavin Cox, a two-year member of the OPP, currently assigned to the Niagara Detachment, has been charged with making an unsafe lane change.
Welland Tribune
Tribune staff
An Ontario Provincial Police officer has been charged under the Highway Traffic Act after a motor vehicle collision in Welland earlier this week.
At about 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, July 14 officers from the Niagara Detachment of the OPP Highway Safety Division investigated a collision Hwy. 140 at Enterprise Road in Welland.
The collision involved an on-duty marked OPP cruiser and a civilian vehicle. Neither the officer, nor the other driver, a 59-year-old Port Colborne resident were injured.
An OPP media release says the police vehicle was northbound on Hwy. 140 and was engaged in traffic enforcement. During a manoeuvre, the cruiser came into contact with another vehicle resulting in property damage to both vehicles.
The highway was closed from 10:30 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. to facilitate the investigation.
Provincial Constable Gavin Cox, a two-year member of the OPP, currently assigned to the Niagara Detachment, has been charged with making an unsafe lane change.
Welland Tribune
Friday, July 24, 2009
Another OPP "Damn Street Racer"
This Officer is the fourth from the OPP that's been charged under the garbage law!
July 23, 2009
The Canadian Press
ST. THOMAS, Ont. — An Ontario Provincial Police officer who crashed into a hydro pole has been charged under the province’s stunt driving legislation — resulting in his police vehicle being impounded.
Police say 31-year-old Constable Jeff McNorgan, an officer with one year of police service with the Elgin County detachment in southwestern Ontario, was travelling on the Nova Scotia Line at the time of the accident.
McNorgan and his passenger, Const. Brian Watson, were uninjured but taken to hospital for observation.
The police vehicle sustained extensive damage in the collision.
McNorgan has been charged with stunt driving for excessive speed, his licence suspended for seven days and the police vehicle in question impounded as required under the legislation.
McNorgan is scheduled to appear in St. Thomas Provincial Court on Aug. 28.
The Spec
July 23, 2009
The Canadian Press
ST. THOMAS, Ont. — An Ontario Provincial Police officer who crashed into a hydro pole has been charged under the province’s stunt driving legislation — resulting in his police vehicle being impounded.
Police say 31-year-old Constable Jeff McNorgan, an officer with one year of police service with the Elgin County detachment in southwestern Ontario, was travelling on the Nova Scotia Line at the time of the accident.
McNorgan and his passenger, Const. Brian Watson, were uninjured but taken to hospital for observation.
The police vehicle sustained extensive damage in the collision.
McNorgan has been charged with stunt driving for excessive speed, his licence suspended for seven days and the police vehicle in question impounded as required under the legislation.
McNorgan is scheduled to appear in St. Thomas Provincial Court on Aug. 28.
The Spec
Examining eHealth Ontario
Key players in the agency's contract and spending scandal
The revolving door at eHealth Ontario has been spinning quickly since the provincial agency was first fashioned out of the rubble of its failed predecessor.
Premier Dalton McGuinty proclaimed the agency's creation last September and put Dr. Alan Hudson and Sarah Kramer at its helm, in hopes the two health-care problem solvers could turn the organization around.
But seven months later, Kramer became the first to take the fall for a mounting scandal focused on more than $5 million worth of untendered contracts, conflicts of interest and anger over high-price consultants nickel-and-diming taxpayers.
The agency's goals were lofty: create an electronic health record system by 2015, cut emergency wait times and increase patient safety.
Here's a rundown of the predecessor organization, key players and the companies who received untendered contracts.
First attempt
Before there was eHealth Ontario, there was Smart Systems for Health Agency. It went to work in 2003 with the goal of making a "secure, integrated, province-wide information infrastructure" to allow electronic communication between health-care providers.
But three years into operations, SSHA had little to show for its work and criticism began to mount. A scathing 100-page operational review by consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP in late 2006 detailed the agency's troubles as the following:
•"Little or no meaningful progress" on creating an emergency health record.
•Not well regarded in the health-care community and lacking strategic direction.
•Privacy policies are "incomplete and not widely understood."
At its core, the agency was also struggling with the transition from being a consultant-based organization to an employee-based one.
In early 2007, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner also dug into the SSHA - criticizing it yet again for privacy and security issues.
Over the following months, the embattled agency sought to clean up the mess and get on with the task at hand. But in late 2008, Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government decided to scrap SSHA and start over with a new agency.
Dr. Alan Hudson
Days after the creation of eHealth, McGuinty placed one of his key health-care problem solvers in one of the lead roles on Sept. 29, 2008.
Dr. Alan Hudson accepted the volunteer position of chair of the nascent agency's board of directors. The neurosurgeon had an impressive resume: he'd overseen a restructuring at Cancer Care Ontario, served as head of Toronto's University Health Network and was in charge of the province's strategy to reduce wait times for key surgeries.
But with eHealth that steady record of excellence unravelled. As board chair, Hudson stood accused of signing off on untendered contracts and of having questionable connections to the firms that secured those agreements.
On June 17, 2009, he stepped down. A day later, he opened up to the media after weeks of silence. The neurosurgeon told the Globe and Mail that mistakes had been made, but he'd never told anyone to break the rules.
He added that he wished the agency had moved at a slower pace in its attempt to finish an "enormous task," focusing on one task at a time rather than all three of the agency's priorities: a diabetes registry, an eHealth portal and issuing prescriptions electronically.
Sarah Kramer
When she was first hired in November 2008 as eHealth Ontario's CEO and president, Sarah Kramer was touted as a "veteran health-care innovator" who could unravel the agency's tangled mess with her "unwavering, passionate" commitment to concrete results and deep knowledge of health-care systems.
Hudson, a close colleague who'd worked with Kramer at Cancer Care Ontario, called her a "practical, results-oriented, health-care leader." The accolades were plentiful.
It all meant little when documents obtained by the opposition Progressive Conservatives through freedom-of-information requests found questionable expenditures.
A further CBC News investigation turned up more than $5 million in untendered contracts and suspected personal links between the agency and consulting agencies awarded lucrative contracts.
Kramer came under specific scrutiny for signing off on some of the contracts, while Hudson signed others. She also was lambasted for $51,500 spent on her office renovation, her annual salary of $380,000, plus a $114,000 bonus that was twice the agency's allowable rate.
After seven months on the job, Kramer was shown the door on June 7 in the midst of battling the scandal. She walked away with a severance package worth 10 months' salary, or about $317,000.
Even after the scandal began to subside, Hudson lauded Kramer's abilities but noted the enormous weight and urgency of the project may have caused her to make mistakes.
The consulting firms
Three companies in particular came under the media's microscope during the eHealth scandal, as did a former provincial deputy minister for a verbal agreement she had with the agency.
Courtyard Group:
This management-consulting firm received three untendered contracts worth nearly $2 million from eHealth during the provincial agency's first months of operation:
•A $915,160 contract dated Oct. 24, 2009, for help with strategy, executive assistance and transition support.
•A $519,760 contract was awarded on Jan. 6, to manage the diabetes project.
•On Jan. 30, eHealth granted an extension of the first contract, worth $562,296
The sole-sourced contracts came under a cloud when CBC News discovered personal links between Courtyard and two members of the board, which had approved the hefty first contract.
Sources described Hudson as an old colleague and mentor to Michael Guerriere, a founding partner at Courtyard. Guerriere was also related through marriage to another eHealth board member, Matthew Anderson.
Guerriere's ties to Hudson dated back at least to the mid-1990s, when the neurosurgeon recruited him to join the University Health Network. Hudson was widely believed to be grooming Guerriere to succeed him as head of the organization. In the end, another person got the job and Guerriere left to help form Courtyard.
While Courtyard was on contract with eHealth, Guerriere also served temporarily as the provincial agency's senior vice-president of strategy, billing more than $3,000 a day in his capacity as a consultant. The work also granted him access to overseeing Courtyard's work and advising Kramer on the agency's future consulting needs.
Guerriere's ties also extend to another company that won sole-sourced contracts from eHealth - his wife, Miyo Yamashita, heads Anzen Consulting.
Anzen Consulting
This consulting firm specializing in privacy issues received an untendered contract on Oct. 6, 2008, worth $268,000 to develop a transition communications plan for eHealth.
The firm's founding partner, Yamashita, who charges about $300 an hour, billed the agency for such tasks as reading New York Times articles obtained from her husband, Guerriere, reviewing a holiday voicemail message and debriefing during a subway ride.
Accenture Inc.
A global consulting firm, Accenture received three untendered contracts worth nearly $1.1 million during eHealth's transition period to work on the organization's design, work stream and develop new mail and network services.
Accenture's senior partner Will Falk had connections to Kramer through his wife, Kate Filion, a childhood friend of the former eHealth CEO. Falk served as a personal reference for Kramer when she applied for the eHealth job in late 2008.
Two of the contracts secured by Accenture were signed on Oct. 29, 2008, during a period of time when Kramer hadn't assumed her eHealth post but was advising the board in an unofficial capacity on contracts. The third contract was granted in January.
Penny Ballem
Questions arose within eHealth Ontario when the agency suddenly received a $30,000 bill for Ballem's 78 hours of work. Unbeknownst to some, Kramer had made a verbal agreement with Ballem, a former deputy health minister in B.C., to work on the agency's diabetes registry.
The verbal contract was expected to last for months if not years, but ended abruptly when Ballem got an offer she couldn't refuse to serve as Vancouver's new city manager starting Dec. 12.
Ballem said such verbal contracts are not unusual and noted the risk was hers. And like others, she questioned whether eHealth took on too much, too fast.
"They were trying to make the best choices they could to actually deliver the product and meet those aggressive targets that the government had set for them," Ballem told CBC News.
Even in the beginning, Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged, "There are some facts that have been brought to the fore which do not sit easy with us."
But right to the end, he maintained the organization dubbed an 'incestuous little gang' by interim PC leader Bob Runciman had done nothing wrong.
Almost from the get-go, opposition parties were calling for the resignation of Ontario Health Minister David Caplan. But McGuinty stood by his minister, even when he shuffled his cabinet.
Under review
For now, eHealth Ontario's books are under intense scrutiny.
A third-party consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is taking a look at eHealth's books, under the management of an internal government auditor.
Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter has been examining the finances of eHealth and its predecessor, SSHA, since last fall.
He was due to release an assessment as part of his annual report in December, but the government has requested an earlier release of the review.
CBC
The revolving door at eHealth Ontario has been spinning quickly since the provincial agency was first fashioned out of the rubble of its failed predecessor.
Premier Dalton McGuinty proclaimed the agency's creation last September and put Dr. Alan Hudson and Sarah Kramer at its helm, in hopes the two health-care problem solvers could turn the organization around.
But seven months later, Kramer became the first to take the fall for a mounting scandal focused on more than $5 million worth of untendered contracts, conflicts of interest and anger over high-price consultants nickel-and-diming taxpayers.
The agency's goals were lofty: create an electronic health record system by 2015, cut emergency wait times and increase patient safety.
Here's a rundown of the predecessor organization, key players and the companies who received untendered contracts.
First attempt
Before there was eHealth Ontario, there was Smart Systems for Health Agency. It went to work in 2003 with the goal of making a "secure, integrated, province-wide information infrastructure" to allow electronic communication between health-care providers.
But three years into operations, SSHA had little to show for its work and criticism began to mount. A scathing 100-page operational review by consulting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP in late 2006 detailed the agency's troubles as the following:
•"Little or no meaningful progress" on creating an emergency health record.
•Not well regarded in the health-care community and lacking strategic direction.
•Privacy policies are "incomplete and not widely understood."
At its core, the agency was also struggling with the transition from being a consultant-based organization to an employee-based one.
In early 2007, Ontario's information and privacy commissioner also dug into the SSHA - criticizing it yet again for privacy and security issues.
Over the following months, the embattled agency sought to clean up the mess and get on with the task at hand. But in late 2008, Dalton McGuinty's Liberal government decided to scrap SSHA and start over with a new agency.
Dr. Alan Hudson
Days after the creation of eHealth, McGuinty placed one of his key health-care problem solvers in one of the lead roles on Sept. 29, 2008.
Dr. Alan Hudson accepted the volunteer position of chair of the nascent agency's board of directors. The neurosurgeon had an impressive resume: he'd overseen a restructuring at Cancer Care Ontario, served as head of Toronto's University Health Network and was in charge of the province's strategy to reduce wait times for key surgeries.
But with eHealth that steady record of excellence unravelled. As board chair, Hudson stood accused of signing off on untendered contracts and of having questionable connections to the firms that secured those agreements.
On June 17, 2009, he stepped down. A day later, he opened up to the media after weeks of silence. The neurosurgeon told the Globe and Mail that mistakes had been made, but he'd never told anyone to break the rules.
He added that he wished the agency had moved at a slower pace in its attempt to finish an "enormous task," focusing on one task at a time rather than all three of the agency's priorities: a diabetes registry, an eHealth portal and issuing prescriptions electronically.
Sarah Kramer
When she was first hired in November 2008 as eHealth Ontario's CEO and president, Sarah Kramer was touted as a "veteran health-care innovator" who could unravel the agency's tangled mess with her "unwavering, passionate" commitment to concrete results and deep knowledge of health-care systems.
Hudson, a close colleague who'd worked with Kramer at Cancer Care Ontario, called her a "practical, results-oriented, health-care leader." The accolades were plentiful.
It all meant little when documents obtained by the opposition Progressive Conservatives through freedom-of-information requests found questionable expenditures.
A further CBC News investigation turned up more than $5 million in untendered contracts and suspected personal links between the agency and consulting agencies awarded lucrative contracts.
Kramer came under specific scrutiny for signing off on some of the contracts, while Hudson signed others. She also was lambasted for $51,500 spent on her office renovation, her annual salary of $380,000, plus a $114,000 bonus that was twice the agency's allowable rate.
After seven months on the job, Kramer was shown the door on June 7 in the midst of battling the scandal. She walked away with a severance package worth 10 months' salary, or about $317,000.
Even after the scandal began to subside, Hudson lauded Kramer's abilities but noted the enormous weight and urgency of the project may have caused her to make mistakes.
The consulting firms
Three companies in particular came under the media's microscope during the eHealth scandal, as did a former provincial deputy minister for a verbal agreement she had with the agency.
Courtyard Group:
This management-consulting firm received three untendered contracts worth nearly $2 million from eHealth during the provincial agency's first months of operation:
•A $915,160 contract dated Oct. 24, 2009, for help with strategy, executive assistance and transition support.
•A $519,760 contract was awarded on Jan. 6, to manage the diabetes project.
•On Jan. 30, eHealth granted an extension of the first contract, worth $562,296
The sole-sourced contracts came under a cloud when CBC News discovered personal links between Courtyard and two members of the board, which had approved the hefty first contract.
Sources described Hudson as an old colleague and mentor to Michael Guerriere, a founding partner at Courtyard. Guerriere was also related through marriage to another eHealth board member, Matthew Anderson.
Guerriere's ties to Hudson dated back at least to the mid-1990s, when the neurosurgeon recruited him to join the University Health Network. Hudson was widely believed to be grooming Guerriere to succeed him as head of the organization. In the end, another person got the job and Guerriere left to help form Courtyard.
While Courtyard was on contract with eHealth, Guerriere also served temporarily as the provincial agency's senior vice-president of strategy, billing more than $3,000 a day in his capacity as a consultant. The work also granted him access to overseeing Courtyard's work and advising Kramer on the agency's future consulting needs.
Guerriere's ties also extend to another company that won sole-sourced contracts from eHealth - his wife, Miyo Yamashita, heads Anzen Consulting.
Anzen Consulting
This consulting firm specializing in privacy issues received an untendered contract on Oct. 6, 2008, worth $268,000 to develop a transition communications plan for eHealth.
The firm's founding partner, Yamashita, who charges about $300 an hour, billed the agency for such tasks as reading New York Times articles obtained from her husband, Guerriere, reviewing a holiday voicemail message and debriefing during a subway ride.
Accenture Inc.
A global consulting firm, Accenture received three untendered contracts worth nearly $1.1 million during eHealth's transition period to work on the organization's design, work stream and develop new mail and network services.
Accenture's senior partner Will Falk had connections to Kramer through his wife, Kate Filion, a childhood friend of the former eHealth CEO. Falk served as a personal reference for Kramer when she applied for the eHealth job in late 2008.
Two of the contracts secured by Accenture were signed on Oct. 29, 2008, during a period of time when Kramer hadn't assumed her eHealth post but was advising the board in an unofficial capacity on contracts. The third contract was granted in January.
Penny Ballem
Questions arose within eHealth Ontario when the agency suddenly received a $30,000 bill for Ballem's 78 hours of work. Unbeknownst to some, Kramer had made a verbal agreement with Ballem, a former deputy health minister in B.C., to work on the agency's diabetes registry.
The verbal contract was expected to last for months if not years, but ended abruptly when Ballem got an offer she couldn't refuse to serve as Vancouver's new city manager starting Dec. 12.
Ballem said such verbal contracts are not unusual and noted the risk was hers. And like others, she questioned whether eHealth took on too much, too fast.
"They were trying to make the best choices they could to actually deliver the product and meet those aggressive targets that the government had set for them," Ballem told CBC News.
Even in the beginning, Premier Dalton McGuinty acknowledged, "There are some facts that have been brought to the fore which do not sit easy with us."
But right to the end, he maintained the organization dubbed an 'incestuous little gang' by interim PC leader Bob Runciman had done nothing wrong.
Almost from the get-go, opposition parties were calling for the resignation of Ontario Health Minister David Caplan. But McGuinty stood by his minister, even when he shuffled his cabinet.
Under review
For now, eHealth Ontario's books are under intense scrutiny.
A third-party consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is taking a look at eHealth's books, under the management of an internal government auditor.
Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter has been examining the finances of eHealth and its predecessor, SSHA, since last fall.
He was due to release an assessment as part of his annual report in December, but the government has requested an earlier release of the review.
CBC
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
EHealth Ontario probe quietly dropped!
What a joke, it's all good though as Daddy Dalton is just looking after our TAX dollars
Liberals investigating Liberals, the people of Ontario are sure to get a boat load of of BULLSHIT, in this farce, which Daddy Dalton calls a review!
Ontario's opposition parties were fuming Wednesday after the Liberal government quietly dropped a promised independent review of scandal-plagued eHealth Ontario.
EHealth Ontario first came under scrutiny last week for nearly $5 million doled out in untendered contracts, with more than half questioned over personal ties to company executives. (CBC)The government had said PriceWaterhouseCoopers would look into procurement practices at the provincial agency, which is working to create electronic health records for Ontario residents.
But last Friday, Health Minister David Caplan agreed to a request from eHealth to drop the outside review, saying it would duplicate the work of Ontario's auditor general.
NDP critic Peter Kormos said the government is worried about more bad news emerging from eHealth and is simply buying itself some time by cancelling the outside review.
"Clearly Mr. McGuinty and the government are very apprehensive about any more revelations about eHealth and their abuse of taxpayers' money," said Kormos.
Caplan called the NDP's accusation "utter nonsense" and said the auditor general "has unfettered authority as a legislative officer and Mr. Kormos well knows that."
PC's Hudak calls for minister's resignation
The Liberals announced the outside review knowing that the auditor general was doing his own investigation, said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.
"So I think this shows that it was a sham process to try to protect the minister's job in the first place," said Hudak.
"This is an ongoing mess and the minister really has no choice, given the ongoing scandals at eHealth, but to step down. And if he doesn't, Dalton McGuinty should fire him."
Premier Dalton McGuinty has already apologized for the spending scandal at eHealth, which included $5 million in untendered contracts and expense abuses by consultants being paid $2,700 a day.
The agency's CEO and the chair of its board both resigned during the scandal.
The Auditor General's report is not due until September, while the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report was supposed to be released earlier.
CBC
Liberals investigating Liberals, the people of Ontario are sure to get a boat load of of BULLSHIT, in this farce, which Daddy Dalton calls a review!
Ontario's opposition parties were fuming Wednesday after the Liberal government quietly dropped a promised independent review of scandal-plagued eHealth Ontario.
EHealth Ontario first came under scrutiny last week for nearly $5 million doled out in untendered contracts, with more than half questioned over personal ties to company executives. (CBC)The government had said PriceWaterhouseCoopers would look into procurement practices at the provincial agency, which is working to create electronic health records for Ontario residents.
But last Friday, Health Minister David Caplan agreed to a request from eHealth to drop the outside review, saying it would duplicate the work of Ontario's auditor general.
NDP critic Peter Kormos said the government is worried about more bad news emerging from eHealth and is simply buying itself some time by cancelling the outside review.
"Clearly Mr. McGuinty and the government are very apprehensive about any more revelations about eHealth and their abuse of taxpayers' money," said Kormos.
Caplan called the NDP's accusation "utter nonsense" and said the auditor general "has unfettered authority as a legislative officer and Mr. Kormos well knows that."
PC's Hudak calls for minister's resignation
The Liberals announced the outside review knowing that the auditor general was doing his own investigation, said Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak.
"So I think this shows that it was a sham process to try to protect the minister's job in the first place," said Hudak.
"This is an ongoing mess and the minister really has no choice, given the ongoing scandals at eHealth, but to step down. And if he doesn't, Dalton McGuinty should fire him."
Premier Dalton McGuinty has already apologized for the spending scandal at eHealth, which included $5 million in untendered contracts and expense abuses by consultants being paid $2,700 a day.
The agency's CEO and the chair of its board both resigned during the scandal.
The Auditor General's report is not due until September, while the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report was supposed to be released earlier.
CBC
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Cop off hook for assault!
Gets conditional discharge for pushing prisoner who taunted him with racial slurs
By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
ORILLIA -- An OPP officer was given a conditional discharge yesterday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a prisoner who called him a "f---ing n----er" while in a fit of drunken rage in his cell.
Const. Carl Nowlin, 33, was charged with assault after the incident occurred in the cells of the Orillia OPP detachment April 9, 2008.
Court heard Nowlin, a member of the OPP Emergency Response Team, was assisting in transporting a prisoner from London, Ont., to Orillia when another intoxicated prisoner started yelling a slew of degrading racial remarks and banging wildly on the cell bars.
Nowlin admitted he entered the prisoner's cell and shoved him, causing the man to stagger backward a couple of inches.
"Mr. Nowlin was treated that way because he was born black ... I can't imagine being yelled at just because I am a white guy," said Nowlin's lawyer, Leo Kinahan.
He said the inmate, Terry Mosses, who had been arrested for theft, was extremely intoxicated. "He was acting like an orangutan," said Kinahan.
Kinahan said Nowlin has an "outstanding" record as a cop, and worked on the front lines in the Caledonia dispute and also helped take down a man who shot and killed a person on Dundas Square in Toronto during the Caribana festival in 2005.
"Const. Nowlin made a two-second lapse in judgment," said Kinahan, who asked the judge for an absolute discharge. "This is not a man who deserves a criminal record."
In court, Nowlin stood before the judge in a suit and tie and apologized.
"This will never happen again," said Nowlin. "I have embarrassed my family and my unit." He also apologized to Mosses (who has since passed away) and his family.
Justice Robert McCreary agreed the shove was a low-end assault, but added Nowlin was not entitled to go into that cell. He sentenced him to a six-month conditional discharge, which will leave Nowlin without a criminal record in six months.
Outside of court, Kinahan said he did not think the incident should have led to criminal charges.
"I think we tend to forget that police officers are human beings who have feelings just like the rest of us," he said. "I mean the entire incident took two seconds. But I guess the Police Services Act people decided it should be handled this way."
The Toronto Sun
By TRACY MCLAUGHLIN, SPECIAL TO SUN MEDIA
ORILLIA -- An OPP officer was given a conditional discharge yesterday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a prisoner who called him a "f---ing n----er" while in a fit of drunken rage in his cell.
Const. Carl Nowlin, 33, was charged with assault after the incident occurred in the cells of the Orillia OPP detachment April 9, 2008.
Court heard Nowlin, a member of the OPP Emergency Response Team, was assisting in transporting a prisoner from London, Ont., to Orillia when another intoxicated prisoner started yelling a slew of degrading racial remarks and banging wildly on the cell bars.
Nowlin admitted he entered the prisoner's cell and shoved him, causing the man to stagger backward a couple of inches.
"Mr. Nowlin was treated that way because he was born black ... I can't imagine being yelled at just because I am a white guy," said Nowlin's lawyer, Leo Kinahan.
He said the inmate, Terry Mosses, who had been arrested for theft, was extremely intoxicated. "He was acting like an orangutan," said Kinahan.
Kinahan said Nowlin has an "outstanding" record as a cop, and worked on the front lines in the Caledonia dispute and also helped take down a man who shot and killed a person on Dundas Square in Toronto during the Caribana festival in 2005.
"Const. Nowlin made a two-second lapse in judgment," said Kinahan, who asked the judge for an absolute discharge. "This is not a man who deserves a criminal record."
In court, Nowlin stood before the judge in a suit and tie and apologized.
"This will never happen again," said Nowlin. "I have embarrassed my family and my unit." He also apologized to Mosses (who has since passed away) and his family.
Justice Robert McCreary agreed the shove was a low-end assault, but added Nowlin was not entitled to go into that cell. He sentenced him to a six-month conditional discharge, which will leave Nowlin without a criminal record in six months.
Outside of court, Kinahan said he did not think the incident should have led to criminal charges.
"I think we tend to forget that police officers are human beings who have feelings just like the rest of us," he said. "I mean the entire incident took two seconds. But I guess the Police Services Act people decided it should be handled this way."
The Toronto Sun
Friday, July 3, 2009
Judge blasts Niagara police for "abuse" of authority
Tasered man awarded $50,000
By KARENA WALTER, SUN MEDIA
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Blasting Niagara Regional Police officers for flouting the law and abusing their authority, a judge has sided with a St. Catharines man who claimed he was falsely arrested and Tasered multiple times.
In his civil court ruling, Judge Raymond Harris said the officers who stopped Michael Parsons in 2003 on the outskirts of Niagara Falls weren’t in danger from Parsons. But Parsons was in danger from them.
“The actions of the officers in this case are very troubling and offensive and I suspect would deeply sadden and shock the community in which they were perpetrated,” Harris wrote in his 80-page decision released earlier this week. “Each of these officers abused their position of authority in a manner which cannot be condoned.”
The judge found there were no reasonable grounds to stop Parsons, a passenger in a Jeep, and that he was Tasered more than three times without justification.
Harris considered the assault on Parsons so “offensive and egregious,” he awarded punitive damages, noting they are rare and exceptional.
And although the 30-year-old was awarded $50,000 in total damages, the judge indicated he would have given more if Parsons had asked for more.
He said the events were deserving of strong condemnation from the court.
“Each of the officers that night decided to flout the law for their own purposes,” Harris wrote.
Parsons said he was pleased with the outcome.
“It wasn’t about monetary gain, it was about justice,” he said Tuesday.
Parsons sued the Niagara police service and five officers — Michael Woodfine, Dino Cirillo, Todd Priddle, James Tallevi and Darren Forbes — for negligence, false arrest, assault, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The civil trial was held in Welland Superior Court in March.
Court heard that on Dec. 18, 2003, Parsons, who was known to police, was a passenger in a Jeep being driven by his fiancee. He testified he yelled “Hey Baby” out the window at a police officer he recognized. A short time later, the Jeep was pulled over.
Parsons said he was dragged out of the Jeep onto the ground, assaulted, choked, pulled into a ditch and repeatedly Tasered. He estimated he was shocked 10 to 15 times on his legs, throat, buttocks, scrotum, back and handcuffs.
Officers took Parsons to a police station, where he was charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest.
Those charges were later withdrawn by the Crown.
Toronto Sun
By KARENA WALTER, SUN MEDIA
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — Blasting Niagara Regional Police officers for flouting the law and abusing their authority, a judge has sided with a St. Catharines man who claimed he was falsely arrested and Tasered multiple times.
In his civil court ruling, Judge Raymond Harris said the officers who stopped Michael Parsons in 2003 on the outskirts of Niagara Falls weren’t in danger from Parsons. But Parsons was in danger from them.
“The actions of the officers in this case are very troubling and offensive and I suspect would deeply sadden and shock the community in which they were perpetrated,” Harris wrote in his 80-page decision released earlier this week. “Each of these officers abused their position of authority in a manner which cannot be condoned.”
The judge found there were no reasonable grounds to stop Parsons, a passenger in a Jeep, and that he was Tasered more than three times without justification.
Harris considered the assault on Parsons so “offensive and egregious,” he awarded punitive damages, noting they are rare and exceptional.
And although the 30-year-old was awarded $50,000 in total damages, the judge indicated he would have given more if Parsons had asked for more.
He said the events were deserving of strong condemnation from the court.
“Each of the officers that night decided to flout the law for their own purposes,” Harris wrote.
Parsons said he was pleased with the outcome.
“It wasn’t about monetary gain, it was about justice,” he said Tuesday.
Parsons sued the Niagara police service and five officers — Michael Woodfine, Dino Cirillo, Todd Priddle, James Tallevi and Darren Forbes — for negligence, false arrest, assault, malicious prosecution and breach of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The civil trial was held in Welland Superior Court in March.
Court heard that on Dec. 18, 2003, Parsons, who was known to police, was a passenger in a Jeep being driven by his fiancee. He testified he yelled “Hey Baby” out the window at a police officer he recognized. A short time later, the Jeep was pulled over.
Parsons said he was dragged out of the Jeep onto the ground, assaulted, choked, pulled into a ditch and repeatedly Tasered. He estimated he was shocked 10 to 15 times on his legs, throat, buttocks, scrotum, back and handcuffs.
Officers took Parsons to a police station, where he was charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest.
Those charges were later withdrawn by the Crown.
Toronto Sun
Police officer charged with impaired driving!
Precious Yutangco
staff reporter
A rookie Toronto police officer faces impaired driving charges after he allegedly crashed his vehicle into a parked car while off duty.
Police were initially called to 443 Adelaide St. W., near Bathurst and King Sts., at 6 a.m. today after they were told a vehicle had driven into a parked car.
They arrested the driver of the vehicle and charged him with impaired driving.
Charged is Const. Chaitanya Joshi, 24, who has been part of Toronto Police Services for 18 months.
Joshi currently works out of 23 Division, which covers the northern half of Etobicoke.
He is scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall on Aug. 11 at 3 p.m.
Toronto Star
staff reporter
A rookie Toronto police officer faces impaired driving charges after he allegedly crashed his vehicle into a parked car while off duty.
Police were initially called to 443 Adelaide St. W., near Bathurst and King Sts., at 6 a.m. today after they were told a vehicle had driven into a parked car.
They arrested the driver of the vehicle and charged him with impaired driving.
Charged is Const. Chaitanya Joshi, 24, who has been part of Toronto Police Services for 18 months.
Joshi currently works out of 23 Division, which covers the northern half of Etobicoke.
He is scheduled to appear in court at Old City Hall on Aug. 11 at 3 p.m.
Toronto Star
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