Toronto Police Constable Adam Lourenco was charged with impaired.
Constable Lourenco was allegedly found behind the wheel of his vehicle with the motor running, asleep.
critter cartoon
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
OPP commissioner loses court appeal
An adjudicator hearing a messy disciplinary case involving Ontario's top police officer showed no bias and need not step down, the province's highest court ruled Friday.
The decision sided with a lower court that found Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino had failed to prove the adjudicator was unfit to hear the case.
"The Divisional Court found that an informed person viewing the matter realistically and practically — and having thought the matter through — would not conclude there was any apprehension of bias on the part of the adjudicator," the Appeal Court ruled.
"I would go further and say that the events in this case fall far short of the type of conduct that would give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias."
The adjudicator, retired justice Leonard Montgomery, had been hearing the disciplinary case against two senior officers Fantino charged with misconduct.
Fantino was under cross-examination last fall when he accused Montgomery of bias and pressed him to step down.
"This commissioner interrupted his cross-examination 13 months ago for what the Court of Appeal is basically saying was for meritless reasons," defence lawyer Julian Falconer said Friday.
"My clients are simply anxious to finish this case up. Enough is enough."
Fantino's lawyer Tom Curry expressed disappointment at the decision, adding that he would consider now trying to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"I certainly haven't ruled such a thing out," Curry said.
"I felt that the case did clearly meet the legal requirements for a finding of a reasonable apprehension of bias."
The defence in the misconduct case against Supt. Ken MacDonald and Insp. Alison Jevons has alleged that Fantino only laid the charges to appease the police union and because he suspected MacDonald of leaking information.
During the disciplinary hearings, Falconer has also accused Fantino of witness tampering and political interference.
"This is a political prosecution and nothing the commissioner has done in the last 13 months in front of the various judges … has done anything other than to simply further confirm their concerns," Falconer said Friday. Fantino has rejected allegations of any untoward conduct on his part.
The hearing saw Montgomery clash with Fantino and prosecutor Brian Gover, who said the provincial attorney general backed his request for the adjudicator to step down.
The bias allegation came when Montgomery expressed concerns after Fantino changed his evidence.
Montgomery in turn complained Gover was trying to intimidate him and decried any government involvement in the quasi-judicial process.
As of Sept. 11, 2009 the Ontario Ministry of Community safety and Correctional Services has spent more than $500,000 on all proceedings stemming from the affair, CBC News has learned.
The labyrinthine affair began in April 2004, when Susan Cole of Gananoque, Ont., called 911 to say her estranged husband, a provincial police sergeant, had taken a baseball bat to her car.
Cole complained the responding officers asked her to leave her home rather than arrest her spouse.
MacDonald and Jevons investigated Cole's complaint, and concluded the responding officers had not followed proper procedure.
CBC.CA
The decision sided with a lower court that found Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino had failed to prove the adjudicator was unfit to hear the case.
"The Divisional Court found that an informed person viewing the matter realistically and practically — and having thought the matter through — would not conclude there was any apprehension of bias on the part of the adjudicator," the Appeal Court ruled.
"I would go further and say that the events in this case fall far short of the type of conduct that would give rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias."
The adjudicator, retired justice Leonard Montgomery, had been hearing the disciplinary case against two senior officers Fantino charged with misconduct.
Fantino was under cross-examination last fall when he accused Montgomery of bias and pressed him to step down.
"This commissioner interrupted his cross-examination 13 months ago for what the Court of Appeal is basically saying was for meritless reasons," defence lawyer Julian Falconer said Friday.
"My clients are simply anxious to finish this case up. Enough is enough."
Fantino's lawyer Tom Curry expressed disappointment at the decision, adding that he would consider now trying to take the case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
"I certainly haven't ruled such a thing out," Curry said.
"I felt that the case did clearly meet the legal requirements for a finding of a reasonable apprehension of bias."
The defence in the misconduct case against Supt. Ken MacDonald and Insp. Alison Jevons has alleged that Fantino only laid the charges to appease the police union and because he suspected MacDonald of leaking information.
During the disciplinary hearings, Falconer has also accused Fantino of witness tampering and political interference.
"This is a political prosecution and nothing the commissioner has done in the last 13 months in front of the various judges … has done anything other than to simply further confirm their concerns," Falconer said Friday. Fantino has rejected allegations of any untoward conduct on his part.
The hearing saw Montgomery clash with Fantino and prosecutor Brian Gover, who said the provincial attorney general backed his request for the adjudicator to step down.
The bias allegation came when Montgomery expressed concerns after Fantino changed his evidence.
Montgomery in turn complained Gover was trying to intimidate him and decried any government involvement in the quasi-judicial process.
As of Sept. 11, 2009 the Ontario Ministry of Community safety and Correctional Services has spent more than $500,000 on all proceedings stemming from the affair, CBC News has learned.
The labyrinthine affair began in April 2004, when Susan Cole of Gananoque, Ont., called 911 to say her estranged husband, a provincial police sergeant, had taken a baseball bat to her car.
Cole complained the responding officers asked her to leave her home rather than arrest her spouse.
MacDonald and Jevons investigated Cole's complaint, and concluded the responding officers had not followed proper procedure.
CBC.CA
Ontario's deputy health minister resigns!
One of the last remaining figures in Ontario's eHealth controversy has resigned just weeks after he was grilled by a legislature committee about the $1 billion Ontario has spent so far on electronic health records.
Deputy health minister Ron Sapsford, who was appointed to the post in 2005, headed the largest bureaucracy in the Ontario government with a budget of more than $40 billion. He also oversaw the creation of eHealth and served as its interim CEO last summer.
Deb Matthews, the minister of health and long-term care, acknowledged the resignation Friday but didn't provide a reason for Sapsford's departure.
Instead, Matthews thanked Sapsford for his "dedicated commitment to improving the health care for Ontario families."
"As deputy minister of health, he has helped make measurable progress in the speed and quality of health care available to Ontarians," Matthews said in a statement, also crediting Sapsford for helping improve access to front-line health care.
The resignation is effective Jan. 3.
The opposition parties had demanded Sapsford quit for his role in the eHealth scandal, especially after David Caplan was forced to resign as health minister.
Scathing report
Caplan resigned last month, just one day before the auditor general released a scathing report detailing how little value Ontario got for the $1 billion spent trying to create electronic health records.
Former eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer and board chair Alan Hudson also resigned their positions in June.
Top officials from scandal-plagued eHealth, including eHealth Ontario chair Rita Burak and Sapsford, were called before the legislature's public accounts committee in October to explain the agency's use of outside consultants.
At that time, Burak said taxpayers deserved an apology for the scandal, which involved awarding of hundreds of millions of dollars in untendered contracts to consultants, but stopped short of actually providing one.
She also told the committee eHealth had trimmed the number of consultants to 286 in September from 385 last spring, and promised that number would be reduced to 160 by next spring.
Sapsford said then he didn't see any reason why he should resign, and noted the government was looking into only one contract, valued at $1 million.
He also took issue with opposition claims that all of the money spent so far on electronic health records has been wasted.
CBC.CA
Deputy health minister Ron Sapsford, who was appointed to the post in 2005, headed the largest bureaucracy in the Ontario government with a budget of more than $40 billion. He also oversaw the creation of eHealth and served as its interim CEO last summer.
Deb Matthews, the minister of health and long-term care, acknowledged the resignation Friday but didn't provide a reason for Sapsford's departure.
Instead, Matthews thanked Sapsford for his "dedicated commitment to improving the health care for Ontario families."
"As deputy minister of health, he has helped make measurable progress in the speed and quality of health care available to Ontarians," Matthews said in a statement, also crediting Sapsford for helping improve access to front-line health care.
The resignation is effective Jan. 3.
The opposition parties had demanded Sapsford quit for his role in the eHealth scandal, especially after David Caplan was forced to resign as health minister.
Scathing report
Caplan resigned last month, just one day before the auditor general released a scathing report detailing how little value Ontario got for the $1 billion spent trying to create electronic health records.
Former eHealth Ontario CEO Sarah Kramer and board chair Alan Hudson also resigned their positions in June.
Top officials from scandal-plagued eHealth, including eHealth Ontario chair Rita Burak and Sapsford, were called before the legislature's public accounts committee in October to explain the agency's use of outside consultants.
At that time, Burak said taxpayers deserved an apology for the scandal, which involved awarding of hundreds of millions of dollars in untendered contracts to consultants, but stopped short of actually providing one.
She also told the committee eHealth had trimmed the number of consultants to 286 in September from 385 last spring, and promised that number would be reduced to 160 by next spring.
Sapsford said then he didn't see any reason why he should resign, and noted the government was looking into only one contract, valued at $1 million.
He also took issue with opposition claims that all of the money spent so far on electronic health records has been wasted.
CBC.CA
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Police officer charged in Sarnia
SARNIA, Ont. — A Sarnia police officer, already before the court on other criminal matters, has been arrested and charged with sexual offences.
The charges were laid following an investigation by Chatham-Kent Police Service, Sarnia police said Wednesday.
The unnamed officer is charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference, a Criminal Code offence involving an alleged victim under the age of 14.
Sarnia police said the officer’s name has not been released to protect the identity of the alleged victims.
The officer has been remanded in custody and will appear for a bail hearing in Chatham, Ont. on Thursday.
The Sun
The charges were laid following an investigation by Chatham-Kent Police Service, Sarnia police said Wednesday.
The unnamed officer is charged with two counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual interference, a Criminal Code offence involving an alleged victim under the age of 14.
Sarnia police said the officer’s name has not been released to protect the identity of the alleged victims.
The officer has been remanded in custody and will appear for a bail hearing in Chatham, Ont. on Thursday.
The Sun
$1M in untendered contracts tied to top health official
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 | 9:19 PM ET
The Canadian Press
Untendered contracts totalling $1 million were awarded by the province to a consulting firm whose top executive was later appointed as one of the government's top health bureaucrats, The Canadian Press has learned.
Helen Stevenson, the assistant deputy minister and executive officer of Ontario's Public Drug Programs, was hired as a consultant in 2005 by the Health Ministry when she was president of Savattuq Inc., a government spokesman confirmed late Tuesday.
Between June 2005 and June 2007, the government gave Savattuq three sole-sourced contracts totalling just over $1 million, according to the provincial public accounts.
Stevenson was hired, in her capacity as a consultant, to head up the province's drug system secretariat, whose purpose was to develop and implement new strategies to manage the province's drug costs, said Health Ministry spokesman David Jensen.
More specifically, the secretariat was charged with producing a "plan of action" that would set directions for the province's drug system, including the Ontario Drug Benefits Program, over five to 10 years, Jensen said in an email.
The three contracts to Savattuq were sole-sourced "given the urgent need to move forward with transformational changes to the drug program," he said.
Those changes led to legislation — the Transparent Drug System for Patients Act — which has saved the province almost $700 million over two years, he said.
Contracts allowed at the time, government says
At the time, untendered contracts were permitted, Jensen said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty changed those rules recently after millions in untendered contracts at eHealth Ontario were brought to light.
Stevenson was appointed assistant deputy minister on June 14, 2007, after an open competition, and took over the executive director job from deputy minister of health Ron Sapsford, Jensen said.
The contract with Stevenson, who makes $275,717 a year in her current job plus $473.28 in benefits, was cancelled after her appointment, he said.
Ivan Langrish, a spokesman for Health Minister Deb Matthews, acknowledged that the contracts were sole-sourced.
"I think it's actually really a good thing," he said.
"We took someone basically from the private sector, had them then join the public sector to undergo basically a transformation of our drug strategy and look what we've managed to do. What we've managed to do is save some $700 million."
News of this latest untendered contract comes in the aftermath of a spending scandal over electronic health records at eHealth, where millions of dollars went out the door in untendered contracts.
The government is also looking to cut costs in an effort to tame a projected $24.7 billion deficit this year — the largest in the province's history.
NDP pans consultant 'addiction'
The Savattuq contracts and Stevenson's promotion raise serious questions about whether the governing Liberals are hiding a secret agenda to slash drug benefits, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
The government is still concealing an untendered, $750,000 report by McKinsey & Co. into cost-cutting for generic drugs, which could end up cutting drug benefits to seniors and welfare recipients, Horwath said.
"It seems to me that it's just another example of this addiction that the government has to hiring consultants," Horvath added.
Langrish insists the government isn't looking to cut drug benefits with the McKinsey report.
"It has nothing to do with that," he said. "It's really trying to reduce the costs of generic drugs, reducing those costs as much as we possibly can because we're paying too much for drugs here."
The governing Liberals may think the Savattuq contracts were good value for money, but taxpayers are tired of seeing them bend the rules, said Progressive Conservative health critic Christine Elliott.
"Everything in health can presumably be said to be urgent because there are many pressing matters," she said.
"But the rules still need to be followed. The end doesn't justify the means."
Matthews has declined to make the McKinsey report public, saying the gist of its findings can be found on slides posted on the her ministry's website.
Those are based on a July presentation by Sapsford, which talks about delivering value for money in the provincial drug system, but makes no reference to McKinsey or the agency's recommendations.
A call to Stevenson's office for comment was not immediately returned Tuesday
CBC.CA
The Canadian Press
Untendered contracts totalling $1 million were awarded by the province to a consulting firm whose top executive was later appointed as one of the government's top health bureaucrats, The Canadian Press has learned.
Helen Stevenson, the assistant deputy minister and executive officer of Ontario's Public Drug Programs, was hired as a consultant in 2005 by the Health Ministry when she was president of Savattuq Inc., a government spokesman confirmed late Tuesday.
Between June 2005 and June 2007, the government gave Savattuq three sole-sourced contracts totalling just over $1 million, according to the provincial public accounts.
Stevenson was hired, in her capacity as a consultant, to head up the province's drug system secretariat, whose purpose was to develop and implement new strategies to manage the province's drug costs, said Health Ministry spokesman David Jensen.
More specifically, the secretariat was charged with producing a "plan of action" that would set directions for the province's drug system, including the Ontario Drug Benefits Program, over five to 10 years, Jensen said in an email.
The three contracts to Savattuq were sole-sourced "given the urgent need to move forward with transformational changes to the drug program," he said.
Those changes led to legislation — the Transparent Drug System for Patients Act — which has saved the province almost $700 million over two years, he said.
Contracts allowed at the time, government says
At the time, untendered contracts were permitted, Jensen said.
Premier Dalton McGuinty changed those rules recently after millions in untendered contracts at eHealth Ontario were brought to light.
Stevenson was appointed assistant deputy minister on June 14, 2007, after an open competition, and took over the executive director job from deputy minister of health Ron Sapsford, Jensen said.
The contract with Stevenson, who makes $275,717 a year in her current job plus $473.28 in benefits, was cancelled after her appointment, he said.
Ivan Langrish, a spokesman for Health Minister Deb Matthews, acknowledged that the contracts were sole-sourced.
"I think it's actually really a good thing," he said.
"We took someone basically from the private sector, had them then join the public sector to undergo basically a transformation of our drug strategy and look what we've managed to do. What we've managed to do is save some $700 million."
News of this latest untendered contract comes in the aftermath of a spending scandal over electronic health records at eHealth, where millions of dollars went out the door in untendered contracts.
The government is also looking to cut costs in an effort to tame a projected $24.7 billion deficit this year — the largest in the province's history.
NDP pans consultant 'addiction'
The Savattuq contracts and Stevenson's promotion raise serious questions about whether the governing Liberals are hiding a secret agenda to slash drug benefits, said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.
The government is still concealing an untendered, $750,000 report by McKinsey & Co. into cost-cutting for generic drugs, which could end up cutting drug benefits to seniors and welfare recipients, Horwath said.
"It seems to me that it's just another example of this addiction that the government has to hiring consultants," Horvath added.
Langrish insists the government isn't looking to cut drug benefits with the McKinsey report.
"It has nothing to do with that," he said. "It's really trying to reduce the costs of generic drugs, reducing those costs as much as we possibly can because we're paying too much for drugs here."
The governing Liberals may think the Savattuq contracts were good value for money, but taxpayers are tired of seeing them bend the rules, said Progressive Conservative health critic Christine Elliott.
"Everything in health can presumably be said to be urgent because there are many pressing matters," she said.
"But the rules still need to be followed. The end doesn't justify the means."
Matthews has declined to make the McKinsey report public, saying the gist of its findings can be found on slides posted on the her ministry's website.
Those are based on a July presentation by Sapsford, which talks about delivering value for money in the provincial drug system, but makes no reference to McKinsey or the agency's recommendations.
A call to Stevenson's office for comment was not immediately returned Tuesday
CBC.CA
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No more taxes after HST...I promise!
They had No Choice!
They wore these or I took away thier toys for 7 days!
No kidding!
"Damn Street Racer"pays with Brusies
