Premier Dalton McGuinty shuffled his cabinet Wednesday amid fresh controversy
unearthed by a scathing report into troubled eHealth Ontario.
Children and Youth Services Minister
Deb Matthews is replacing David Caplan, who resigned as health minister Tuesday
as the auditor general was poised to deliver his report.
Backbencher Laurel Broten, a former
environment minister, will be brought back into cabinet to take over Children
and Youth Services from Matthews.
The shuffle doesn't touch Energy and
Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman, who came under fire for the
untendered contracts awarded under his watch as health minister.
The opposition parties have been
calling for Caplan's head since details surfaced about the millions of dollars
in untendered contracts awarded to consultants as well as questionable expenses
at eHealth.
"We have ended the practice that has
carried on for decades under governments of all political stripes," McGuinty
said in a statement.
"Together, our package of reforms
will protect taxpayers and bring an end to untendered contracts for consulting
services."
Auditor General Jim McCarter's report
details the $1 billion Ontario has spent over 10 years trying to create
electronic health records with very little to show for it, and links the
awarding of million of dollars in untendered contracts eHealth directly to
McGuinty.
McCarter says the board of directors
at eHealth felt it had little power over former CEO Sarah Kramer because she had
been hired by chairman Alan Hudson "with the support of the premier."
The government replaced Kramer and
Hudson this summer, but the Conservatives and NDP maintained that a cabinet
minister must also be held accountable for the scandal.
The auditor's report also highlights
a $30-million, sole-sourced contract given to IBM, which was approved by a
cabinet committee, not by eHealth executives.
Minutes after the report was
released, the government released two boxes full of binders containing hundreds
of pages of freedom-of-information requests from eHealth and the ministry.