Post by Dean Robinson on Jun 18, 2008 8:20:29 GMT -5
McGuinty snuffs demand for expanded oversight
MATTHEW CAMPBELL
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
June 18, 2008 at 4:42 AM EDT
Premier Dalton McGuinty's office quickly rebuffed a demand yesterday by André Marin, Ontario's Ombudsman, that his mandate be expanded to investigating hospitals, public educational institutions and city councils.
At a press conference held for the release of his office's annual report, Mr. Marin blasted the conduct of public agencies in the so-called MUSH sector - municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals - which operate beyond the limits of his oversight.
Those bodies "have become almost a law unto themselves," Mr. Marin said. "They have carved themselves a nice, comfortable niche, a zone of immunity against oversight."
A spokesperson for the Ombudsman called the provincial-level oversight exercised by the Auditor-General inadequate because it is directed primarily at financial irregularities rather than complaints from citizens.
But the reaction of the Premier's office, which would have to endorse any expansion of Mr. Marin's mandate, was tepid at best.
Jane Almeida, a spokesperson for Mr. McGuinty, said that existing oversight by the Auditor-General and local attention to hospitals and schools are adequate safeguards, and thus any expansion of Mr. Marin's power would be unnecessary.
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care George Smitherman expressed a similar sentiment.
John Tory, Leader of the provincial Progressive Conservatives, disagreed strongly. Mr. Tory said that "somebody needs to have the power to oversee hospitals ... universities and schools," and that recent deaths from C. difficile bacterial infection in Ontario hospitals demonstrate the necessity of extending Mr. Marin's powers.
Within Mr. Marin's current area of responsibility - directly administered provincial agencies - his criticism of government conduct was scathing. Citing a "treasure trove of government maladministration" uncovered over the past year, he singled out the Family Responsibility Office, a provincial agency that enforces child support payments, as suffering from "customer disservice syndrome."
The Trillium Drug Program, which provides low-cost pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, behaves as though "the customer is always wrong," his report said.
Mr. Marin added that many Ontarians are trapped in "the 'twilight zone' of public service."
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