Police officers to face hearing

Police want more power to save lives and fight crime, they do what they want, when they want, they get caught crossing the line, they loose a rank, a weeks pay, while waiting for the outcome, they are suspended with pay.
These two will get off with a years paid vacation!

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SHAWN JEFFORDS

The Observer

Two Sarnia officers charged under the Police Services Act could face internal discipline following a hearing next month.

Const. Steven Wyville and Patrick Nahmabin are each charged with two counts of discreditable conduct in relation to a break and enter in the city last year.

Both officers pleaded guilty and received discharges in court last week. The hearing will take place over two days on Oct. 22 and 23 at police headquarters.

“The prosecutor is waiting for all the information from the courts, the judge’s report, things like that,” said Chief Phil Nelson. “It’s just a matter of doing some housekeeping and getting set up for that.”

The officers were charged last year after being unlawfully in a home in which they were looking for Nahmabin’s stolen badge. The discharges left both veteran officers without criminal records.

In the meantime, they remain suspended with pay. The officers could face a range of penalties from suspension, demotion in rank and pay, and even dismissal.

The hearing is open to the public.

“This is an act used on a regular basis to discipline officers,” Nelson said. “It’s part of a provincial statute and how we deal with police labour issues.”

sjeffords@theobserver.ca



The Observer

Durham police officer charged with pointing gun at co-worker

A Durham Regional police officer was suspended and faces three charges after he threatened a fellow officer with his police firearm this week.

Ian Cameron, 37, and another officer were involved in "a physical altercation" on Monday, during which Cameron - who joined the force in 2004 - drew his weapon and threatened the other officer with it. The conflict ended soon after that and no shots were fired. The incident took place at a police station, but out of public view.

Cameron, who was released following a bail hearing Wednesday, was charged with assault, possession of a weapon and pointing a firearm.

The Professional Standards Unit, which deals with matters related to the conduct of police and its services in the area, is handing the investigation.

Canwest News Service

Police officer charged after July car crash

Author: Nicole Million
Date: Oct 07, 2009

An eight-year Ontario Provincial Police veteran has been charged in relation to a single-car crash that happened in July.
On July 12, just before 10:30 p.m., an officer from the Southern Georgian Bay OPP detachment rolled her vehicle on Highway 12 in Tay Township while responding to a report of a suspected impaired driver.
“The police vehicle the officer was operating left the roadway and rolled into the ditch on the north side of Highway 12,” Const. Peter Leon, Central Region media relations officer, stated in a news release.
The officer, who holds the rank of constable, sustained minor injuries at the time. She has been charged with failing to drive in a marked lane.
The collision closed the highway near Triple Bay Road for four-and-a-half hours while technical traffic collision investigators examined the scene.
During the course of the investigation, the officer remained on active duty, noted Leon.
“The officer does not change his or her duties whatsoever. They remain in an active frontline capacity. In this case, it was a Highway Traffic Act charge laid and it doesn’t affect the officer. They can still operate a police vehicle and respond for calls for service.”
Leon noted the charge is the same any member of the public would face under similar circumstances.
“In the big scope of things, this is not a criminal offence in any way,” he said. “As police, we hold members of the public accountable for their actions on the roadways, and we also must expect the same of our (officers).”

nmillion@simcoe.co

Simcoe.com

Trucker in his rig fined for smoking

Saving lives and GRABBING some cash along the way!!!!


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A truck driver from London, Ont., has been fined $305 for smoking in the cabin of a tractor-trailer because it is considered a workplace.

Essex County Ontario Provincial Police pulled over a truck on Highway 401 near Windsor, Ont., at about noon on Wednesday after the driver, 48, was seen smoking.

He was fined under the Smoke-Free Ontario Act, a 2006 law that prohibits smoking in enclosed workplaces and public areas such as bars and restaurants.

An enclosed workplace can also be any vehicle that is covered by a roof and that employees work in or frequent while working, regardless of whether "they are acting in the course of their employment at the time," according to the legislation.

Police spokeswoman Shawna Coulter told the Windsor Star it was the first time Essex County provincial police had enforced the legislation.

Neil MacKenzie, the manager of tobacco programs for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, said his group has laid 10 charges for vehicle-related offences since the law went into effect, to taxi drivers and construction workers, among others.

With files from The Canadian Press

CBC.CA

Cancer Care Ontario broke rules: audit

Scandal after scandal for "The Dalton Gang", theres bound to be a few more that pop up before election!

Amid a political flurry over the latest eHealth Ontario revelations, the Ontario government has released new documents revealing chronic missteps at another health agency.

An internal audit of Cancer Care Ontario shows the provincial agency handed out consultant contracts in some of the same questionable ways as eHealth.

It gave consulting firm Accenture Inc. $18.7-million in deals over two years, some in the form of so-called "follow-on" agreements, a practice that allowed them to be added on to current contracts without being opened to bids. The audit found the number of follow-ons "excessive" — with at least 26 recorded.

The original Accenture contract was called into question earlier this week after CBC learned from sources that the company won the bid, despite not making the shortlist, after a senior partner called Sarah Kramer, then in the top information technology job. Kramer later became CEO of eHealth, and still later resigned under fire. She denied receiving the call in a written statement to CBC News.

Twenty-two of the follow-on agreements were approved by Kramer without proper CEO approval.

"The findings of this audit clearly indicate that the procurement processes, file organization and consistency of documentation require substantial improvement," the audit says.

"It is also apparent that required competitive tendering rules have not been consistently applied for all contracts of significant value."

CEO takes 'full responsibility'
Cancer Care CEO and president Terrence Sullivan declined a CBC News request for an interview. In a statement, however, he said he accepts the audit's findings and has already made changes to how the agency spends its money.

In an email on Tuesday to staff obtained by CBC News, Sullivan remarked on the media frenzy he expected in the coming days and stated, "I take full responsibility for the weaknesses identified in the report and the burden we now share."

In the two years examined by the audit, about 60 per cent of some $30-million in contracts examined were doled out to three big vendors.

Though the firms were unnamed, sources told CBC News they include Courtyard Group and Accenture, two companies who received untendered contracts while Kramer was at the helm of eHealth Ontario.

The Cancer Care Ontario documents were released Wednesday as part of a mountain of binders containing results from freedom-of-information requests by various media outlets submitted after the eHealth Ontario scandal first surfaced. Though Cancer Care is not currently subject to FOI requests, the province released the documents on Wednesday, and Premier Dalton McGuinty said it will apply to the provincial agency in the future.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak criticized the government for dumping the documents on the same day as the release of a scathing auditor general's report on eHealth Ontario, accusing Dalton McGuinty of being "the first premier to ever attempt to hide one scandal behind another scandal."

Ballooning contracts
The audit also noted that Cancer Care Ontario had no policy for buying radiation therapy equipment for hospitals, resulting in $3.5 million in orders that didn't follow proper tender procedures and in six-figure price jumps.

Contracts for a number of radiation treatment machines rose above the original ceiling price by $300,000 to $500,000. In one instance, a contract price rose by $1 million, because the machine had to be customized to fit into a room.

Another time, extra equipment plus user fees were tacked on, causing a $861,000 increase above the original agreement.

The agency also appeared to have a recurring problem with documenting consultant expenses, with only six per cent of $136,000 in out-of-expense claims accompanied by the necessary receipts.

Other revelations in the documents included:

•Details of some contracts were ironed out after the deal was done.
•One contract ballooned to almost six times its original maximum worth of $3.5 million — to $20.2 million — in a process that lacked proper approvals from the CEO.
•Contracts without tender accounted for 49 per cent of examined contracts for non-capital goods and non-consulting expenses, such as computer equipment, software and equipment rental.
•About $1.6-million worth was paid out over 14 invoices to a company with no written contract.
•At one point, the director of finance had the authority to create, approve and review purchase orders.
•Several employees recruited were offered between $17,000-23,000 over the maximum salary range.
•CCO employee files were kept in an unlocked cabinet accessible to unauthorized employees.
•Even though policy forbade paying for parties, Cancer Care paid for two staff picnics, a farewell function and gifts for staff, one holiday party and a baby shower

CBC.CA

Opposition calls for Smitherman's head

And this guy want's the mayors job.........yeah ok, Like I would vote for you!


Wednesday, October 7, 2009 | 9:19 PM ET

Ontario's opposition parties called Wednesday for the resignation of Energy Minister George Smitherman, saying he must be held accountable for his role in the expense scandal at eHealth Ontario.

Both Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath were reacting to a long-awaited report from the province's auditor general.

The report castigated the government and the senior management of eHealth for wasting nearly $1 billion in taxpayers' money over the past decade in a failed bid to create an electronic health record system.

The report slammed the government for allowing eHealth to waste millions on unused computer systems and give out millions more in untendered contracts to consultants.

Some of those contracts were doled out when Smitherman was health minister from 2003 to 2008. Smitherman's successor, David Caplan, resigned as health minister Tuesday over the eHealth affair.

Hudak said Wednesday he also expected Smitherman to resign upon the release of the eHealth report.

"The auditor general's report makes it quite clear that many of the biggest abuses of taxpayers' money occurred under the watch of minister George Smitherman," Hudak told reporters. "And George Smitherman has escaped any sanction or any scrutiny by the premier for his role in this affair."

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath also levelled a blast at the deputy premier.

"I can tell you if I was the premier of this province, I wouldn't have Mr. Smitherman in my cabinet nor the current deputy who oversaw all these things either," she told reporters Wednesday afternoon.

Smitherman, who is considering running for Toronto mayor, addressed the issue on Wednesday.

"I haven't any doubt whatsoever that there are lessons that I can learn — that we can all learn — because of the investigation that has occurred," Smitherman told the legislature.

McGuinty accepts responsibility
Earlier Wednesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was accepting responsibility for the mess, and promised to put a stop to the unsupervised, free-spending practices that created the eHealth scandal.

"We have ended the practice that has carried on for decades under governments of all political stripes," McGuinty told reporters at a news conference in Toronto.

"Ultimately," the premier said, "I'll be judged by the people of Ontario," referring to a provincial election that is two years, less a day, away. "We should have known about this."

McGuinty said he welcomes the auditor general's recommendations and "we undertake to implement every one of them."

McGuinty also approved the release of an internal audit of another health agency, Cancer Care Ontario.

The Health Ministry said it made that document public "in our continuing commitment to open and transparent government."

In the legislature, Hudak accused the government of intentionally releasing those documents on the same day as the auditor general's report in order to draw attention away from CCO. He suggested "Liberal friends" may have benefited from deals with CCO.

"Dalton McGuinty now is trying to hide one scandal behind another scandal," the Opposition leader said. "After six years in office, the rot has spread deep and wide in the McGuinty government."

He blamed the wasted money and untendered contracts directly on McGuinty's leadership.

The premier, who tried for months to dodge opposition calls for the head of his health minister, finally accepted David Caplan's resignation on Tuesday evening.

McGuinty also announced a small cabinet shuffle on Wednesday, moving Deb Matthews from her post at community and social services to health. Matthews will be replaced by former cabinet minister Laurel Broten.

Smitherman stays at the energy and infrastructure post.

New measures
McGuinty tried in September to pre-empt the scathing criticism in the auditor's report by announcing four new measures aimed at ending the practice of untendered contracts and stopping the expense excesses that have been reported in the media.

Ontario Public Service employees will be issued new, simplified guidelines for travel, meals and hospitality expenses. The government says the new measure "boils 25 pages of guidelines down to two pages."

Employees at the 22 largest boards and agencies will undergo mandatory online expense claim training.

In a move aimed at increasing transparency following the expense scandals at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and at eHealth Ontario, the expenses of Ontario Public Service "senior management, cabinet ministers, political staff and senior executives at Ontario's 22 largest agencies will be posted online. This will start no later than April 1, 2010," the province said in a news release.

The province said it is also planning to increase the number of random audits it carries out on the province's agencies, boards and commissions.

"Together, our package of reforms will protect taxpayers and bring an end to untendered contracts for consulting services," McGuinty said in a statement released Wednesday morning.

With files from The Canadian Press

CBC.CA

Ontario health minister quits!

Ontario's health minister has resigned one day before the release of a report into spending scandals at an agency tasked with creating electronic health records in the province.

A Health Ministry representative told CBC News that David Caplan intends to officially step down on Wednesday. Officials in Premier Dalton McGuinty's office said they could not confirm the report until then.

Caplan quit because of what will be in the provincial auditor general's report, which is expected to detail the $1 billion Ontario has spent over 10 years trying to create electronic health records, sources told The Canadian Press.

"I think it tells you a lot about Dalton McGuinty — after six years in office — that he dodged, delayed, and stonewalled until backed into a corner," said Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, speaking about Caplan's resignation.

Auditor General Jim McCarter will release a 50-page special report, which was commissioned last June as the Liberal government tried to defend itself against revelations of millions of dollars in sole-sourced contracts and high-paid consultants' expense claims at eHealth.

Former agency CEO Sarah Kramer was fired in June, and eHealth chair Alan Hudson quit shortly after those details were publicized.

Opposition called for ouster
The opposition parties have been demanding Caplan's head since the expense details surfaced in April, and have criticized the government for axing senior bureaucrats but allowing a cabinet minister to keep his job.

Christine Elliott, the Conservative health critic, has said the scandal shows there is a lack of accountability in the McGuinty government.

The NDP also said Caplan had to resign if the government wanted to move beyond the eHealth scandal, and rejected the Liberals' defence that the problems covered in the auditor general's report will date back a decade, four years before they came to power.

McGuinty repeatedly defended Caplan as he came under fire over the summer.

Deputy Premier George Smitherman told the legislature Tuesday that governments of all stripes in the past allowed untendered contracts, but the Liberals changed the rules for all ministries and arm's-length agencies, boards and commissions to prohibit the practice.

"We've set a new standard and eliminated the prospect for sole-sourcing," Smitherman said.

"They did it. We've done it. It's been the pattern, but it's been changed and we've raised the bar."

EHealth was set up last September by the Liberal government, the merger of the e-health program at the Ministry of Health and Long-term Care Smart Systems for Health Agency (SSHA).

SSHA was created in 2003 with the goal of making a "secure, integrated, province-wide information infrastructure" to allow electronic communication between health-care providers. But an independent audit three years later found the agency lacked strategic direction and had made little progress in achieving its goals.

McGuinty opted for a fresh start and tasked eHealth last year with developing a similar digital record system by 2015 for health-care providers across the province to access.

With files from The Canadian Press

CBC.CA