NDP calls on Elections Ontario to investigate Ford government contract with private health-care company
Elections Ontario is being asked to investigate a private health-care company whose corporate directors made a series of donations to the Progressive Conservative party weeks before the company was awarded a sole-sourced contract to run vaccine clinics in the province.
Ontario's NDP wrote a letter to Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa asking him to probe 17 "potentially coordinated donations" made by the corporate directors and family members of FH Health -- a private firm that was tapped by the Doug Ford government to run 10 vaccine clinics in the Greater Toronto Area.
The NDP is calling into question $42,600 worth of contributions over the month of September to the Ontario PC party of amounts ranging from $1,000 to $3,300 made by the President, Director, Chair and Chief Medical Officer of FH Health and several others who share family or business connections with the company's directors.
"When you've got executives making the maximum donation, and their family members making the maximum donation all around the same time, that isn't just a fluke, that's not just a coincidence," said NDP MPP Taras Natyshak.
Natyshak says the donations might have broken Ontario's election financing laws which forbids corporations from funneling money to political parties through individual donors and prevents a party from knowingly accepting false contributions.
The NDP has also asked Ontario's Auditor General to investigate the deal between the government and FH health.
The Ford government, however, is denying any quid pro quo saying that FH Health won a contract in 2021 to run mobile testing clinics in the province and already had an "existing relationship with Ontario Health" before the scope of the contract was expanded.
"The Ministry of the Solicitor General entered into an emergency procurement with FH Health to establish additional vaccine clinics – to urgently accelerate boosters for education workers before the return of in-person learning – as they already had physical capacity and Health Human Resources supports in place," said Stephen Warner, a spokesperson for Solicitor General Sylvia Jones.
The government also pointed out that three of the corporate directors also made donations to the Ontario Liberal party between 2018 and 2021, including donations made to Steven Del Duca's leadership campaign.
While FH Health has not responded to emails from CTV News Toronto, a spokesperson denied any wrongdoing in a statement to Queen's Park Today, which initially reported news of the donations.
“Individuals, in their personal capacity, may have chosen to donate to political parties on all sides over the years. In every case they have done so on their own and most certainly not at the behest or suggestion of the company,” the company told the publication.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
'My family doctor just fired me': Ontario patients frustrated with de-rostering
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
Michael Cohen: A challenging star witness in Donald Trump's hush money trial
He once said he would take a bullet for Donald Trump. Now Michael Cohen is prosecutors' biggest piece of legal ammunition in the former president's hush money trial.
Canada Post cracks down on Nunavut loophole to get free Amazon Prime shipping
Amazon's paid subscription service provides free delivery for online shopping across Canada except for remote locations, the company said in an email. While customers in Iqaluit qualify for the offer, all other communities in Nunavut are excluded.
Millions of Canadians have been exposed to potentially toxic chemicals, and they're not going anywhere
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
As Israel pushes deeper into Rafah, Hamas regroups elsewhere in ungoverned Gaza
Israeli forces were battling Palestinian militants across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago, where Hamas has exploited a security vacuum to regroup.
Thousands of civilians evacuated from northeast Ukraine as Russia presses renewed border assault
Thousands more civilians have fled Russia's renewed ground offensive in Ukraine's northeast that has targeted towns and villages with a barrage of artillery and mortar fire, officials said Sunday.
Feds 'committed to doing more,' but minister offers no timeline for Canadian Disability Benefit boost
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP boss expresses desire for new law to deal with threats against politicians
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.