The Official Opposition has obtained new information showing that Premier Wakeham has been misleading the public about the role of Dr. Desmond Whalen in the Premier’s Office.
Despite Premier Wakeham’s claims that Dr. Whalen’s $275,000 part-time political staff job is to provide health advice, which would still be an inappropriate use of MCP funds, this explanation is also untrue.
Government briefing notes show that Dr. Whalen was included in briefings regarding meetings with the Ambassador of Portugal to Canada and with the Council of the Federation.
Dr. Whalen is being paid through the Medical Care Plan (MCP) while serving as a political Special Advisor in the Premier’s Office. The Official Opposition is now questioning how diplomatic meetings and ceremonial government events have anything to do with providing healthcare expertise.
“These are clearly political and governmental activities that have nothing to do with advising on health care,” said Opposition Leader John Hogan. “The Premier needs to explain why healthcare dollars are being used for work that is political in nature.”
The Official Opposition also has concerns that the Premier’s former Deputy Chief of Staff, Steve Outhouse, overruled the objections of public servants to create Dr. Whalen’s MCP contract for partisan political advice.
“At a time when patients are waiting for care, our healthcare system is under strain, and people are being denied MCP coverage, the Premier needs to explain how this use of MCP funding is appropriate,” said Health Critic Lisa Dempster.
In the House of Assembly, Premier Wakeham and his Ministers failed to explain why a political staffer is being paid through MCP for work, some of it completely unrelated to health, why Executive Council’s advice that political staff must be paid as such was ignored, and why the staffer was given confidential government information long before signing his high-paid, inappropriate contract.
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