Niagara At Large is posting the following NDP media release and hansard exchange between the NDP’s health critic, France Gelinas, and Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his finance minister, Dwight Duncan, for your information.
Ontario NDP health critic France Gelinas
It should be mentioned that hospital boards like the Niagara Health System have not been subject to “freedom of information” legislation, requiring them to possibly disclose information about their services that may be applied for by the media or members of the public, under the current Liberal and former Conservative governments. Hospital boards have essentially been allowed to release whatever information they wish to about their operations and withhold the rest.
What isn’t clear is how much or what kind of information the Liberals may want to block the public from getting under a section of a budget bill now scheduled for passage in the provincial legislature.
Here is a May 10 media release by the NDP on the issue and a transcript of a short debate on the same day. Add your comments on this issue below, if you wish.
Close freedom of information loopholes, make Ontario hospitals fully transparent: NDP
Queen’s Park – Ontario NDP Health Critic and Nickel Belt MPP, France Gélinas, questioned Premier McGuinty’s secretive addition to the Budget Bill that will limit access to freedom of information for hospital documents.
“Six months ago, in reaction to hospital lobbyist and consultant scandals, the McGuinty Liberals promised to make hospital documents available through freedom of information legislation after the next election,” Gélinas said. “But now, Schedule 15 in the budget bill allows for any documents linked to quality improvement from ever being released.”
“This opens up a loophole that a truck would fit through, allowing hospitals to hide all information by simply saying the information is linked to ‘quality improvement’,” Gélinas said. “People have been waiting a very long time for transparency in our hospitals and there are many Ontarians out there needing closure.”
“Six Months ago the government seemed to support more transparency,” she said. “But in one fell swoop, in schedule 15 in the budget, the McGuinty Liberals did away with hospital transparency.”
Gélinas asked the Premier, “What would keep a hospital practicing continuous quality improvement from hiding information from Freedom of Information requests?”
The Premier did not answer the question and instead handed it off to the Minister of Finance who praised the budget and encouraged all parties to support it.
From Queen’s Park Hansard, May 10
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Mme France Gélinas: Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Six months ago, in reaction to the hospital lobbyists and consultants scandal, the government promised to make hospital information available through freedom-of-access-to-information legislation. But now, schedule 15 in the budget bill allows for any document linked to quality improvement to never be released. This opens up a loophole that a truck could fit through, allowing hospitals to hide all information by simply saying the information is linked to quality improvement. Why is the Premier backtracking on hospital freedom-of-information requests?
Hon. Dalton McGuinty: To the Minister of Finance.
Hon. Dwight Duncan: There are amendments, as the member knows, contained in the budget that do, in fact, allow freedom of information for hospitals. We’re proud to be doing that. There are some necessary limitations on that that protect a variety of interests and also serve, I believe, to ensure that we have an adequate, open and transparent hospital system and, at the same time, that we don’t expose it to unnecessary legal actions and lawsuits. We think it’s the appropriate balance.
I look forward to voting in favour of that in a few minutes, just as I look forward to voting in favour of considerable new resources for children’s mental health and addictions. I hope the member opposite will vote in favour of those things as well.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?
Mme France Gélinas: He just said that they made the changes to respond to some interests. The bill was brought forward because of lobbyists. The bill was brought forward because of what was going on. We don’t want backroom deals any more. People have waited a long time for transparency in our hospitals. There are so many Ontarians out there who need closure. That closure will come through access of information.
Six months ago, the government seemed to support more transparency, but now, in one clean sweep, in schedule 15 of the budget, the minister’s doing away with hospital transparency.
What would keep a hospital practising continuous quality improvement from hiding everything from freedom-of-information requests?
Hon. Dwight Duncan: The amendments are appropriate and proper in the context of an open and accountable health care system for all Ontarians. I’m proud that this government is the government that has moved to provide that freedom of information, striking the balance, as my colleague indicates, of confidentiality for individual patients and medical practitioners, along with the public’s absolute right to know and understand.
It is part of a larger budget that will fund children’s mental health and addictions services; create a risk management program—15 new breast screening enhancements. I look forward to the NDP caucus voting for all of those important things in the next few minutes.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): The time for question period has ended.
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We are paying top tax dollars for the right to know where our money is being spent….. if they are doing right by us WHY would they need to hide from disclosure??????????????????? They are elected “CIVIL SERVANTS” & have vowed to do the bidding of the people who elected them. THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW ALL THAT THEY ARE DOING ON THEIR BEHALF!!!!
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Once again — We keep electing these idiots – what else can I say – you derserve the government you get
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At the present time our Provincial Ombudsman Andre Marin is not allowed to investigate the Health system, it appears that Dalton Mc,Guinty does not want his dirty underwear washed in the public eye. The scandals and unnecessary deaths because of their mishandling of our health tax dollars is outrageous.
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Pingback: Ontario NDP Critic Slams Government For Blocking Public Access To Information On Hopsital Services
If anyone can truly understand what Dwight Duncan was trying to say in his convoluted explanation, they should get a prize. It’s all b.s. and we know it.
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Thursday, May 5, was a sad day at Queen’s Park. Not an unusual day — but a sad one. In the morning, the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs met to do a clause-by-clause approval of Bill 173, the Budget Bill. Thanks to the diligence of various groups and associations, notably patients’ advocate group Impatient4Change, along with the Ontario Health Coalition, and the strong critique of NDP health critic France Gelinas, a good portion of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of Schedule 15, the “hospital secrecy act”. Schedule 15 received a great deal of attention at the single day of public hearings on the budget, on April 21. The majority of presentations concerned this item, and all delegations were opposed. Nevertheless, it passed, despite the opposition of the PC and NDP members of the Finance Committee.
In the Legislature, during the afternoon session on May 5, Rosario Marchese’s bill calling for full oversight into the healthcare and post-secondary sector (among others) for the Ontario Ombudsman — as in other Canadian provinces and territories — went down to defeat on second reading, without being referred to committee.
What’s the lesson from this? When McGuinty and his cohorts come courting your vote later this year, and tell you how much they’ve done to improve healthcare and hospital services in this province, ask them why, in that case, they are so terrified of public scrutiny. Ask them why it is that the OHA and HIROC have so much power, and the individual patient none at all. Then ask them why we should trust them with our healthcare — or anything else.
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… and picture if you have a spouse that enters into this hospital, the spouse needs an operation and gets the surgery done, but during the course of the surgery, mistakes were made and your spouse suffers from complications, related to nosocomial infections perhaps, something the hospital has been trying to hide. Your spouse may die, but you cannot get information as to how this transpired. Is that right? Is there accountability there?
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The Ontario Health system makes me ill, just thinking about it., that bunch running Queens Park behave like ostriches sticking their heads in the sand and hope it will be forgotten , we are livid now not just angry at the NHS.and the Dalton gang.
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