ELECTRONIC HEALTH INFORMATION

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: My question is for the Premier. There continue to be unanswered questions about his scandal-plagued agency. Earlier this summer, an all-party subcommittee agreed it was in the public interest to bring the board of eHealth before a legislative committee that would get to the bottom of the scandal. Last week, the Liberal members on the committee blocked our effort to get eHealth in before committee.

Did the Premier tell the Liberal members of the committee to block a legislative probe by the government agencies committee?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: We have an impartial, arm's-length, objective office which has agreed to take responsibility for reviewing the facts there. I think we should give that office, the Auditor General's office in particular, the necessary time and leeway to conduct their business. I understand that my colleague is impatient when it comes to the completion of this work. I think we should remain patient, and as I've said several times, we look forward to receiving both the findings and the recommendations so that we might act on those.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary?

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: With respect, what we're impatient with in the opposition benches is the continued mismanagement and misuse of taxpayer dollars in this province. The eHealth scandal is clearly a matter of public interest. The government has repeatedly said that it needed a second layer of review. Who better to do a review than a legislative watchdog committee? If the Liberal members weren't standing in the way, we could have had the second layer of oversight that the Premier wants.

When the media asked the Liberals why they wouldn't let eHealth executives appear before the government agencies committee, the minister clammed up and refused to give an explanation. So I'm going to ask the Premier one more time, is it because the Premier and the minister have something to hide?

Hon. Dalton McGuinty: Again, I think the question always comes back to, what do we owe Ontarians here? And I like to think what we owe them is an objective, dispassionate, thorough review of the circumstances. That will be best completed by the Office of the Auditor General.

I want to remind my honourable colleague as well that the public accounts committee will be reviewing the auditor's report on eHealth. This will be coming before the committee. There will be an opportunity to look at that report to ask questions of the Auditor General. I think that's the appropriate thing to do in the circumstances.