Ontario’s New Democrats want an investigation into political donations made by board members at a company that later got a government contract to supply COVID-19 vaccines.
Party ethics critic Taras Natyshak has asked Elections Ontario and the province’s auditor general to investigate a spate of donations to FH Health councilors’ Progressive Conservative Party, first reported this week in an online news release by Queen’s Park Today .
FH Health has administered vaccines to education workers in the Toronto area and has previously offered COVID-19 tests.
In a Thursday letter to the CEO of Elections Ontario, Natyshak pointed out that the majority of donations made within a few weeks last year were at the maximum legal limit of $ 3,300 per person or possibly more.
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He also expressed concern about other donations to the party within the same time frame apparently made by family members or business associates affiliated with the company, totaling $ 42,000 in total.
“I am very concerned about the potential for these donations to be coordinated centrally, either by someone at FH Health or at the PC Party, and the potential for an election funding violation,” Natyshak wrote to Greg Essensa.
“I would appreciate your office’s prompt investigation into the matter so that Ontarians can be assured that such an offense will not be tolerated in Ontario.”
The NDP said Elections Ontario had assigned a file number to Natyshak’s complaint from Thursday, but said the party had not heard back from the auditor general.
Natyshak wrote to Auditor-General Bonnie Lysyk on Wednesday that he was “deeply concerned” about “another contract being obtained alone that was awarded as quickly as possible without proper investigation,” noting that Lysyk in her annual report last year after problems with looked at similar contracts.
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He also expressed concern that the company was only taken up during the pandemic in the fall of 2020, questioning why it was chosen to deliver vaccines without experience.
“I ask your office to investigate the choice of this agreement with FH Health and exactly how Ontarians is on the hook for the contract of another computer-friendly provider with no observable history of vaccination provision during this complex and difficult moment of the pandemic,” he wrote.
At a Thursday news conference on the matter, Natyshak said the timeline of events surrounding the company and its contract looks “fishy”.
“There should be no quid pro quo related to the delivery of essential, life-saving measures during a pandemic,” he said. “It’s horrible and it deserves to be investigated.”
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Sylvia Jones said the ministry had turned on FH Health to run the clinics because the company already had a relationship with Ontario Health and had the ability to get the clinics up and running quickly.
“The Attorney General’s Ministry has entered into an emergency deal with FH Health to establish additional vaccine clinics – to accelerate urgent boosters for education workers before returning to personal learning – as they already have physical capacity and human resources support in place. ., ”Said Stephen Warner.
Warner also noted that ministry officials, not Jones, made the decision to enter into the sole source agreement with the company.
FH Health did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The PC party, meanwhile, said it was following election rules.
“We follow all rules and guidelines set forth by Ontario Elections and the Electoral Finance Act,” the party said in an email.
Mike Schreiner, leader of the Green Party of Ontario, said “decisions about Ontario’s pandemic response should not be made on the basis of political donations.”
“We need transparency and accountability from our elected officials to build the public trust needed to get through this crisis,” he said. “There should have been a transparent and competitive bidding process to get the best outcome for Ontarians.”
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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