PALMER: RCMP NOT LIABLE IN FATAL CRASH
Fresh eyes: Auditor general’s office was part of the process, and should stay at arm’s length
While there are many unanswered questions about those misbegotten firings in the Ministry of Health, there’s no mystery about when and how the affair was set in motion.
The launch point was an anonymous complaint to the office of the auditor general in March 2012 about alleged irregularities in the awarding of contracts for drug research by the pharmaceutical services division of the Ministry of Health.
“The information raised questions about compliance with legal and government policy requirements, as well as with good contracting practices,” as then-auditor general John Doyle disclosed in a public report later in the year.
Doyle was sufficiently concerned about the allegations to authorize an investigation by staff from his own office to check facts and determine if further work was warranted.
The work bore fruit in a matter of a few weeks. At least one whistleblower came forward voluntarily with information to support the initial anonymous allegations.
Doyle then made it easier for the whistleblower to tell all, invoking the not inconsiderable legislative powers of his own office. Though the auditor general did not name the whistleblower, she has since been identified (via leaks to the news media) as Alana James, then a staffer in charge of vetting contracts in the Ministry of Health. She also had legal training, though she was not employed in that capacity by the ministry.
Judging from emails supplied to The Vancouver Sun and other news organizations, James acted entirely on her own and largely out of concern for what she regarded as deliberate flouting of proper contracting procedures.
She pressed her concerns repeatedly with higher-ups in the ministry. Getting nowhere and feeling bullied and intimidated, she went to the auditor general, who extended both shelter and support.
Armed with the material provided by the whistleblower, Doyle then put pressure on the Health Ministry to do what it had resisted doing to that point.
“The Ministry of Health then committed to undertaking an internal review of the matter,” as Doyle observed at the end of 2012. “The internal review resulted in a variety of staffing and administrative actions that have been widely reported in the media.”
Results to that point included the firings of eight drug researchers and contract workers, one of whom would commit suicide not long after Doyle published his report. Plus the ministry initiated a complaint to the RCMP, which led police to open a file on the allegations. The internal Health Ministry investigation continued as well, supposedly with a view to providing supporting material to the RCMP.
But as was reported earlier this month, the police would eventually close the file, never having obtained any evidence from the government.
The ministry team, headed by lead investigator Wendy Taylor, did produce a final report to government.
On reviewing those findings, the current deputy minister of health Stephen Brown concluded there was not enough evidence to justify the firings. He then began the process of retreat that has seen reinstatements, out-of-court settlements or both with most of those who were victimized.
The Taylor report has never been made public, though I gather the government has considered releasing it, albeit in a redacted form that would probably raise more questions than it answers.
As for the auditor general, when Doyle reported out at the end of 2012, he announced his office would “begin building a watching brief” on the original allegations and “we will assess the ministry’s response and determine at a future date what further actions may be necessary.”
Doyle left office a few months later and Carol Bellringer, chosen by unanimous vote of the legislature, took over as auditor general in September of last year. When I asked Tuesday about the status of that watching brief, I was told “our file remains open.”
Others, including the former deputy minister of health who presided over the firings, Graham Whitmarsh, and current Health Minister Terry Lake, have suggested the office of the auditor general could be reenlisted to answer the who and the why of the firings.
The auditor general has the power to re-engage, either at the request of the legislature or on her own initiative. She acts independently, can summon witnesses, take testimony under oath, send for documents, and report directly to the legislature.
But as Opposition leader John Horgan noted Tuesday — and not out of disrespect for Bellringer — her office wouldn’t qualify as a disinterested observer because of her predecessor’s involvement.
“The auditor general’s office was the first exposure of this issue and there would be, I expect, people working in the office, good solid people, that would be useful witnesses in any public inquiry,” he told reporters. “So to actually conduct the inquiry in the auditor general’s office is a nonstarter.”
That leaves some form of independent inquiry commission as the best option for getting to the bottom of this affair, preferably on a mandate to report back within months, not years.