QUEEN’S PARK, ON  – NDP MPP Jagmeet Singh and MPP France Gélinas both agree that after 66 witnesses and 15 days of committee hearings into the Ornge scandal, a clear picture has emerged that the McGuinty Liberals had numerous warning signs about the troubled air ambulance service and chose to do nothing.

“In the past couple of days we’ve heard testimony detailing nepotism, illegal lobbying, and million-dollar kickbacks,” Singh said. “These are words we associate with organized crime, not our healthcare system,” said Singh.

Singh said testimony revealed the McGuinty Liberals ignored warning signs at Ornge for years until it hit the media.

“Since 2009, whistleblowers raised red flags with the Health Ministry about Ornge, an audit commissioned by the Health Ministry flagged an opaque corporate structure, and Freedom-of-information requests and legislative questions were ignored. To make matters worse, the Health Minister Deb Matthews denied any wrong-doing, and has been trying to pin the blame on everyone else but herself and her Ministry,” said Gélinas.

“Minister Matthews is responsible for failing to take any action on Ornge when well-connected insiders spent millions of healthcare dollar on themselves. The government never expressed any reservations about Ornge, never took any action to correct the problems, and never had any proper oversight over the organization. This is absolutely scandalous,” said Singh.