Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford Resigns

Bureaucrat Latest To Fall In ehealth Spending Scandal

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Nov 15, 2009 Laura Steiner

Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford has resigned. He is the latest casualty in the eHealth scandal. The resignation came on Friday Nov. 13, 2009.

The ehealth spending scandal surfaced following a report by Ontario’s Auditor General stating the agency wasted $1 billion dollars of taxpayer’s money on consultants. Sapsford’s resignation follows that of eHealth’s ex CEO Sarah Kramer, and Chairman Alan Hudson and his own former boss Health Minister David Caplan.

Matthews Provides no Reason for Sapsford’s Departure

Sapsford led the province’s largest bureaucracy with a budget of over $40 billion. He was responsible for the creation of eHealth, and even served as its interim CEO. Health Minister Deb Matthews provided no actual reason for the resignation but in comments published by CBC.CA she did comment on his contribution to Ontario’s Health Ministry: “As deputy minister of Health, he has helped make measurable progress in the speed and quality of healthcare available to all Ontarians.” His resignation is effective Jan. 3, 2010.

The opposition spent months demanding his resignation. Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak applauded Sapsford’s resignation. In comments published by the globeandmail.com he pointed out this was merely the eHealth scandal’s latest casualty: “The only senior eHealth figure who has not lost his job yet is Dalton McGuinty."

McGuinty was involved in the hiring of former eHealth CEO Sarah Kramer. In comments to the Toronto Star, New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Andrea Horwath said, “The very first thing that came to mind when I heard this was it looks like we’ll never get to the bottom of the eHealth scandal.”

Ron Sapsford has released a statement saying he’ll miss his job.

Progressive Conservatives Push for Public Inquiry into eHealth

The Progressive Conservative Party (PC) is going to push for a public inquiry into the eHealth scandal. Sarnia-Lambton Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Bob Bailey is going to introduce legislation calling for a public inquiry. In remarks published by the Sarnia Observer, Bailey stressed the importance of knowing what happened to the missing money: “I think that it’s important the people of Ontario know where this money went, where the misspending was, who made the decisions, and how do we prevent this from happening again.”

The Liberals have so far refused to call an inquiry into the scandal. A recent auditor-general’s report revealed eHealth misspent $1 billion in taxpayer money on consultant contracts. Currently there is a legislative committee looking into the scandal, and the Liberals have blocked all attempts to question senior officials. Bailey is determined to get to the bottom of it: “We’ll get them on the record.”

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Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford, Ontario Government Deputy Health Minister Ron Sapsford
   
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