It's a McSlippery World

The eHealth Ontario saga widened Monday with revelations that a consultant was paid $30,000 for 78 hours work, and the son of board chairman Alan Hudson worked for a firm closely connected to the agency before leaving for IBM.

Dr. Ballem said she had no idea a staff member at eHealth had questioned her invoice for the 78 hours she worked over the three-month period ending last December. She was paid $3,000 a day, making her one of the more generously compensated consultants.

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UPDATE: Why should Dalton care?

It's not his money...

-- TORONTO -- There are no plans by the Dalton McGuinty government to shuffle Health Minister David Caplan out of his portfolio despite demands from opposition leaders he resign in the wake of the eHealth Ontario spending scandal.

"Caplan continues to have the premier's confidence to help the organization get by this and build on the progress they've made this far," a government source said.

It just keeps getting better.

Kramer is not the only high-ranking eHealth exec to be leaving.

Allaudin Merali, the high-flying Edmonton-based consultant who billed the agency up to $75,000 a month in fees and expenses, vanished from eHealth's website over the weekend.

eHealth vice-president Deanna Allen said Merali's contract expires at the end of June and is not being renewed.

Merali charged $2,700 a day for his expertise and also billed taxpayers for a rented downtown apartment and trips back to his Edmonton home each weekend.

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LAST WORD: Diogenes would be pleased

A consulting firm abruptly terminated its lucrative contract with eHealth Ontario last February after only four weeks on the job, citing delays, wasted time and dysfunctional work plans.

Well before the scandal erupted over eHealth's lavish spending on consultants, Stevenson Kellogg chose to leave thousands of dollars on the table, rather than continue its association with the organization.

“We terminated the contract because of my severe discontent with most aspects of the work, including the dysfunctional work plans, the delays and waste of time, and the personal styles of the team leaders.”

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If you voted for Dalton McGuinty...

...in the last election... you forfeited your right to bitch about high taxes...

EHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer's six-figure bonus was double the maximum rate allowed at the Crown-owned agency, a spokeswoman for the organization has confirmed.

In early March, four months after Kramer started her post at the newly created agency, its board of directors approved a $114,000 bonus, on top of her $380,000 salary.

When Ontario Health Minister David Caplan was asked earlier about her bonus, he called it a "carry-over from her previous contract."

Yeah... that eHealth.

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UPDATE: Caplan has to eat his words

“I am acting immediately upon (the eHealth board’s) request to revoke Sarah Kramer’s appointment as eHealth Ontario President and Chief Executive Officer,” Health Minister David Caplan announced today.

“This decision is an important step to restore public confidence in the agency and its mandate of modernizing our health care system.”

So David... what are you gonna do to restore public confidence in your (and Premier McSlippery's) poor judgement?

Mr. Caplan initially defended the bonus, portraying it as something Ms. Kramer was entitled to receive at her previous job at Cancer Care Ontario, where she also worked with Dr. Hudson. However, a Cancer Care executive said her bonus at eHealth was three times higher than what she would have received at her former job.

Through his press secretary, Mr. Caplan subsequently changed his tune.

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LAST WORD: Dalton McSlippery thanks you...

...for your generous contribution...

Sources told The Canadian Press that Kramer will receive nearly $317,000 in compensation, the equivalent of 10 months' salary under an agreement reached with eHealth's board.

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It just gets better and better

You think you've managed to get to the bottom of Dalton McGuinty's perfidy... but the hits just keep on coming...

eHealth Ontario spent more than $1 million in severance to remove a nine-member senior executive team to clear the way for Sarah Kramer -- herself dumped at a six-figure cost last week.

Documents obtained by Sun Media detail packages handed to William Albino and Michael Rigo, let go after the Liberal government tapped Dr. Alan Hudson to lead the quest for electronic health records and to chair eHealth's board.

Then-president and CEO Albino received nearly $850,000 in severance and Rigo, a senior vice-president, left with about $235,000.

Heck... it's not like it comes out of ol' McSlippery's pockets, huh?

Another seven senior execs were also sent packing at the time but eHealth V-P Deanna Allen said details of their severance would only be released through a Freedom of Information request.

As soon as Albino and his team departed, Kramer replaced them, largely with consultants.

And what does the Premier have to say?

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty stood by the eHealth Ontario board of directors on Tuesday, saying he still has confidence in them despite the contracts and spending scandal.

"I'm very proud of the work that Dr. Hudson has done and continues to do for us."

"You couldn't get a better, more committed and more accomplished individual, at any pay level, to take on that responsibility."

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RELATED: It sure wasn't Lisa Raitt...

...who pissed away all my tax dollars...

"eHealth Ontario has spent $146 million on consultants since 2003, despite commitments to reign in billings for outside expertise."

And while we're on hypocrisy...

"No one should doubt for a second that the opposition parties are committed to the well-being of their constituents."

"Yet for months now, the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP have made no secret of the fact that they also see the current economic downturn as a unique opportunity to score points against the Conservatives."

Et tu, Iggy?

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The McSlippery Government

Rotten to the core...

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.

You know anybody who has cancer? Then you should be pissed...

Ontario's Auditor-General has directly linked Premier Dalton McGuinty to the hiring of former eHealth Ontario chief executive officer Sarah Kramer, whom he says wielded considerable power and ignored the agency's own policies in doling out lucrative contracts to consultants.

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RELATED: Lib bench getting a little thin

Broten was previously dumped from cabinet after she irked neighbours with plans to tear down an old tree at her Toronto home to make way for a two-storey garage.

Yeah, sure... bring 'er back.

I mean, she did such a great job as Environment Minister.

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Your money, his friends

Who exactly, is on Dalton McGuinty's eHealth team...

Friends, family and former colleagues are all intertwined in the complicated web that is eHealth Ontario's list of preferred contractors.

In the legislature yesterday, PC MPP Tim Hudak described it as "incestuous relationships, the quid pro quo, you-scratch-my-back-I'll-scratch-yours mentality."

Even a brief review of the list of $5 million in untendered contracts the agency handed out in its first six months of existence reveal the same group of names long connected to CEO Sarah Kramer and board chairMAN Dr. Alan Hudson.

Those include Courtyard Group, led by former University Health Network exec Michael Guerriere, Anzen Consulting, run by Guerriere's wife Miyo Yamashita and Accenture Inc. -- one of whose executives gave a reference to Kramer when she applied for the job.

Hudson once ran the University Health Network, where Guerriere was one of his executives before heading to Cancer Care Ontario in 2002. From there he went on to lead the province's Wait Times Information Strategy and then the eHealth board in 2008.

Kramer worked with Hudson at both Cancer Care and the WTIS.

Guerriere worked under Hudson at the University Health Network and his consulting firm was heavily involved in developing the WTIS.

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"Who in their right mind..."

"...hires a Liberal strategist to lobby a Conservative government."

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"Kinsella's Daisy Group is defending Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt!"

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UPDATE: Your money... his friends

-- TORONTO -- A former aide to Premier Dalton McGuinty is among the highly paid consultants who benefited from an untendered contract with eHealth Ontario, a provincial agency mired in a spending scandal.

Billing records show that Karli Farrow, a former adviser to McGuinty who works for the Courtyard Group, was paid $10,646 for 32.5 hours of work in January as a consultant to eHealth.

Her tasks included corresponding about eHealth "priorities" with Don Guy, the premier's former chief of staff who is now president and CEO of polling firm Pollara.

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So yesterday, Ontario Liberals...

...hinted at a belt-tightening budget, further squeezing the education and healthcare systems... geez, I wonder where the money went...

Ontario government ministries spent almost $390 million on consultants in 2007-08 -- on top of the funds that went to contractors through its agencies, boards and commissions like eHealth Ontario.

Miller said the FOI numbers do not include other government bodies that spend tax dollars, such as eHealth Ontario, which was recently criticized by the Auditor General for its use of high-priced consultants.

"It's outrageous," Miller said. "Now, we find out eHealth is not the biggest. Consumer Affairs is even bigger."

Meanwhile CTV & CBC continue to loudly howl about Consevative logos on prop cheques at photo-ops.

Wake up folks... and smell the propaganda.

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Meanwhile... @sympatico.msn...

...another fuzzy-bunny poll goes horribly wrong...
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RELATED: More McGuinty "rope-a-dope"

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.

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.

The Auditor General's report is not due until September, while the PriceWaterhouseCoopers report was supposed to be released earlier.

It's why we call him "McSlippery."

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Just something to think about...

...the next time you have to spend six hours sitting at the Emerg...

Auditor General Jim McCarter will release a report next week that will reportedly blast the governing Liberals for aggravating existing problems at eHealth and failing to get value for taxpayer dollars.

It estimates the province has spent about $1 billion to create an eHealth system with little to show for it.

A billion here, a billion there... pretty soon you're talkin' real money.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking bankruptcy."

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Playing with numbers

Researchers at Hamilton's McMaster University say they have devised an electronic medical records system that can be implemented by physicians across Ontario for two per cent of the money the provincial government has spent on eHealth Ontario.

The web-based program, dubbed OSCAR, organizes medical records and can be set up on any computer system with a browser. It was first created in 2001, and has attracted more users each year.

Around 600 doctors across the country — including 450 family physicians in Ontario — currently use the software.

Two percent, huh? And what's the number that this two percent comes out of?

Last week, Auditor General Jim McCarter released his much anticipated report which would determine if Ontarians received value for the money spent to set up eHealth.

As it turns out Ontario families have not received value for their money.

One billion dollars has been spent by the Liberal government on a health system that still isn’t operational.

Yikers.

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Your money, his friends...

...yet again...

Former eHealth Ontario chief executive officer Sarah Kramer landed the top job at the troubled agency after Premier Dalton McGuinty directly intervened in her appointment, over the objections of some of his own civil servants.

Ms. Kramer did not have to go through the normal channels government agencies use to find a chief executive officer. And Mr. McGuinty was directly involved in her hiring, according to sources close to the situation.

But there's always two sides to a story, right?

Ms. Kramer could not be located for comment.

Jane Almeida, a spokeswoman for Mr. McGuinty, declined to discuss the Premier's involvement in the matter.

A Health Ministry spokeswoman said Tuesday that Dr. Hudson is not available for comment.

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FROM THE COMMENTS:

"So now according to CBC McSlippery denies the whole thing."

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LAST WORD: McGuinty addresses eHealth accusations...

"Hey... what about those racist Conservatives?!?!?!"

Sigh.

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OHIP, eHealth... now HST

Remember way back when... you know... you used to have a say in what the government did with your money?

-- TORONTO -- Premier Dalton McGuinty won't agree to hold public hearings on the HST across Ontario, but says he expects voters will pass judgment on the new tax in 2011.

McGuinty says people can call talk radio or write letters to the editor about the 13 per cent single sales tax, adding he'd be surprised if voters don't consider the HST in the next Ontario election.

Just don't be bothering Dalton about it... 'cos he's not listening.

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RELATED: And, south of the border...

...the left is in disarray...

In October, Obama only garnered a 47% approval on the economy; now it’s 43%. Disapproval on Afghanistan rose to 49%, up seven points in a month.

Both are issues on which Obama has tried to be seen as taking charge, and Americans increasingly wonder if he’s up to the task.

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Yeah...

...I'm shocked...**********

RELATED: Dalton McSlippery rides again

The new total of $15.3 million is spread among 26 sole-sourced contracts, meaning the agency never sought another bidder.

Approximately $13 million was paid out on the contracts.

Such contracts were issued in part because eHealth was told to get moving on its mandate. Its predecessor, the Smart Systems for Health Agency, burned through $650 million over five years with little to show for its efforts.

This burns my ass. After moving out to Hastings County it took us six years to get a family doctor.

"This is scandalous," Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak told CTV Toronto.

"At a time when you can't get a loved one into a long-term care home, when you have to wait for an MRI, to see the McGuinty government handing out untendered contracts to Liberally-connected consulting firms is absolutely outrageous."

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McSlippery cabal finally admits...

...they haven't a clue where all the taxpayer moola is going...

Mr. McGuinty unveiled the new measures on Monday morning, an hour before the fall session begins in the legislature. His government is expected to be on the defensive following spending scandals at eHealth Ontario and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp.

Mr. McGuinty denied that he is attempting to distract attention from what is expected to be a lively Question Period today. But he also conceded that his government has been caught off guard by the spending scandals uncovered by the Tories.

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Explanations are for the "little people"

Once again, your money... his friends...

-- TORONTO -- Ontario's Liberal government has used its majority to block opposition attempts to force top brass from eHealth Ontario to appear before a legislative committee.

But the Liberals unanimously out-voted the opposition parties, without offering an explanation.

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Well, that's one mystery solved

I guess we know what Dalton and company needed that new health care premium for.

Ontario's auditor is probing spending at the delay-plagued provincial agency responsible for developing electronic health records. eHealth Ontario has spent $146 million on consultants since 2003, despite commitments to reign in billings for outside expertise.

And overall agency spending has ballooned to $839 million while the delivery date for province-wide, electronic patient health records has been pushed back to 2015.

This province continues to lag behind other Canadian jurisdictions that have spent far less money and made more progress on electronic health card systems that have reduced medical errors, prescription overdoses and health-care costs.

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The Buck Stops...

...somewhere else...

Opposition MPPs had called on the premier to sack the Toronto-area minister for failing to curtail millions of sole-sourced contracts and lavish consultant contracts at eHealth Ontario, the agency charged with making provincial health records electronic.

But Mr. McGuinty will apparently stand by Mr. Caplan, who was also responsible for the provincial lottery agency when it was overtaken by a massive insider wins scandal.

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Take doctors -- please

You know how it is with doctors. First they see patients and the next thing you know they want to diagnose, treat and cure them. Apparently these clowns think money grows on trees, unlike our thrifty eHealth consultants.

The problem is with all this -- ugh! -- treatment going on, you then have to hire more nurses and hospital technicians and pay for more tests, equipment and beds. It's a vicious circle.

Heck, I'd engineer a doctor shortage to save money if Bob Rae hadn't beat me to it two decades ago.

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RELATED: Is President McDreamy goin' down?

“You know a sales pitch is in trouble when it starts, 'Look! Ya gotta trust me! We’re not gonna kill your grandparents'!”

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LAST WORD: Let the "puppet show" commence...

GIRL: [Waits for screen to load] You’re going to … help my gwandpa, aren’t you Mister Pwesident? He’s all sick with acute wenal failure. Please wescue him. He’s not a wegistered Wepublican or anything like that.

OBAMA: You know, Tammy, before your question tonight, I probably would have left him to die. But now I won’t. You have my word on it.

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Your money... his friends

An encore performance...

The chairman of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. plans to resign as early as today in a pre-emptive strike by the McGuinty government aimed at heading off a potential scandal over lavish spending on travel and entertaining, sources say.

One source said the government was looking at whether to replace the entire board, and talks were still under way last night. The boardroom shakeup comes amid concerns by the McGuinty government that it could become embroiled in another scandal similar to the one involving eHealth Ontario, the sources said.

According to one of the sources, government officials are concerned that if they do not make changes at the board level, they could face criticism for not doing enough to reform the agency that has been dogged by scandal for several years.

The sources said government officials are scrambling to deal with OLG before documents come to light containing details about lavish spending on entertainment and travel by some executives of the agency.

Yup... that's why we call him Premier McSlippery.

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That's why we call him...

...Premier McSlippery...

Ontario's Liberal government was at a loss Monday to explain why a former deputy minister of health was paid $762,000 in 2010 when he left government the year before.

The salary for former Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford was listed under Hamilton Health Sciences in last week's sunshine list of public sector workers earning more than $100,000 a year.

“I can't comment on that,” said Health Minister Deb Matthews. “I wasn't part of the arrangement with him.”

Former eHealth boss Sarah Kramer, who was fired in 2009, also made the 2010 sunshine list at $107,000.

I got nuthin'.