Yukon Party accuses Liberals of hiding report on hospital finances

Yukon Party health critic Brad Cathers says the Liberal government is suppressing a report on financial management at the Yukon Hospital Corporation.

And he's accusing Premier Ranj Pillai of violating the territory's access to information law in the process.

"Now that the report is done, for some reason, he really doesn't want the Official Opposition to see it," Cathers said of Pillai. "And so far they have refused to release it, even though that should be public information."

Cathers suggested the report would shed light on what he calls "chronic underfunding of Yukon hospitals to the tune of millions of dollars."

According to documents obtained by the Yukon Party through an access to information request, the government issued a direct, sole source contract to the accounting firm Ernst & Young.

The contract document says it's for a review of "financial management of the Yukon Hospital Corporation and [to] provide an opinion on whether capital, project and operational funding is utilized efficiently and effectively to achieve intended objectives." The contract is worth $300,000.

Other documents show the premier's office overruled procurement officials who recommended against awarding the contract.

"There is an urgency in finalizing this contract setup, as the work to be performed under this contract is required to be completed by August 1, 2023," wrote Justin Ferbey, the deputy minister of the executive council office.

Cathers told reporters Tuesday that a copy of the Ernst & Young report was not attached to the 98-page package of documents the party received.

Under access to information law, information that cannot be released publicly is typically blacked out, with a number signifying the section of the act being invoked to justify the redaction. Departments are also typically not supposed to know who filed an access request.

Cathers said the absence of the report shows that Pillai interfered with the access to information request.  

"I do question whether the premier has followed the law in this case, because I believe that he has not," Cathers said.

Cathers made the comments outside the legislative chamber, where he would be protected by qualified privilege against accusations of defamation. 

Pillai wasn't made available for an interview Tuesday, but health minister Tracy-Anne McPhee said the government only received a copy of the report at the end of October.

If that's true, then the government could not have broken the access to information act because it didn't have the report in hand. A Yukon Party spokesperson said the party filed its access to information request Sept. 13. Ernst & Young did not immediately respond to a request for comment asking when the company submitted the final report.

McPhee said she has read the report but refused to discuss its contents or conclusions. 

"We've had the report for eight days and we need to do our due diligence, our responsibility of looking at the details of the report [and] sitting down with the hospital corporation so they have an opportunity to review the report," she said.

 A work plan for the review included in the access to information package does offer some insight into the final report's contents. It says Ernst & Young will review the hospital corporation's current financial management practice. The work was to include interviews with government and hospital corporation staff.

The final report was to include recommendations on short-term financial risks and improvements to financial management practices and to "assess the capacity of YHC to address past and current operational shortfalls."