Consultant said she consulted herself. So eHealth paid her

Clean house at eHealth
Every day brings a new and more outrageous revelation about out-of-control spending
By CHRISTINA BLIZZARD, SUN MEDIA



The biggest sigh of relief as the bells clanged ending the spring session at Queen's Park's last Thursday came from Health Minister David Caplan.

He's been on the hot seat over the eHealth Ontario expense boondoggle for the past two weeks.

With question period on hold until September, he can now relax. Dalton McGuinty's government has once again dodged a bullet.

Trust me, though, this eHealth mess won't go away. It will get worse.

Every day brings a new and more outrageous revelation about out-of-control spending.

In its first six months of existence, eHealth handed out almost $5 million in untendered contracts, one of which was the Courtyard Group, which outgoiing Tory interim leader Bob Runciman says has close ties to Deputy Premier George Smitherman. He said Courtyard has received "lucrative, taxpayer-paid untendered contracts worth over $2 million.

"Top Courtyard employee John Ronson was a former Liberal staffer. Another employee, Karli Farrow, was executive assistant to Minister Smitherman and a policy adviser to the premier.

"Courtyard head Michael Guerriere worked right alongside eHealth chair Alan Hudson, who has gone underground since this scandal came to light," Runciman told the Legislature last Thursday.

DUCK AND WEAVE

The Liberal ability to duck and weave any time a scandal hits is spectacular.

Part of their strategy has been to refer their messes to an independent third party. It temporarily turns down the heat as they shrug off responsibility.

They did the same thing in 2007, amidst the $32.5-million multicultural grants scandal. Provincial auditor Jim McCarter was asked to probe the grants. Later, during the dead of summer, he handed out a scathing report and culture minister Mike Colle was forced to resign.

In 2005, the Libs referred indiscretions by then transportation minister Harinder Takhar to the integrity commissioner, who ruled in 2006 that the minister had breached the Member's Integrity Act. It didn't make much difference. He's still in cabinet.

You would think listening to Caplan's self-righteous blathering that he had personally requested McCarter to review this bloated agency.

"I sought reassurances from the chair, the board at eHealth, and not having received them, I said I want someone independent to get in there and take a look," Caplan said last week.

Actually, McCarter had long ago started to probe eHealth as one of the regular value-for-money audits he does every year.

All Caplan did was authorize him to speed up the review and release it separately, as soon as it is complete. McCarter says that could be by the end of August or beginning of September.

It was Caplan, also, who toughed it out during the OLG scandal. Don't expect a swan dive any time soon.

It makes you wonder if the Tories weren't more accountable in government than the Liberals now are. Or, perhaps, after two terms, all governments get sloppy and arrogant about spending.

At least the Tories dumped Eleanor Clitheroe, the high-flying Hydro One exec, for her spending excesses.

Meanwhile, eHealth CEO Sarah Kramer got a $114,000 bonus to her $380,000 a year salary -- just three months into the job.

Enough! It's time for Kramer to take the Clitheroe walk of shame.

I don't know what it is about governments and computers, but every time the two collide, taxpayers end up taking a bath. We already wasted $647 million on eHealth's predecessor, the Smart Systems for Health Agency. I suspect most ministers and most senior pooh-bahs know nothing about IT. When the techie types give their reports, they're blinded by bafflegab.

This nonsense has gone on too long. There are too many people unemployed for us to tolerate this wanton disregard for taxpayers' money.

URGENT NEED?

McGuinty, Caplan, et al would have you believe there is an overriding, urgent need to get this electronic record database up and running.

If all these consultants spent less time eating taxpayer-funded muffins, taking taxpayer-funded cabs and swilling taxpayer-funded $15 cocktails, they could get it done faster.

I say dump them all. No one's indispensable, least of all people who are shameless enough to stiff taxpayers for their Tim Hortons tea.

Time to say goodbye.

CHRISTINA.BLIZZARD@SUNMEDIA.CA 416-325-3971