Documents show N.L. government helped bring travel nurses into province, PC leader says
PC Leader Tony Wakeham says documents obtained by his party show the provincial government helped approve a contract for agency nurses to work in Newfoundland and Labrador, despite the government's assertion contracts are handled by the health authority. (Peter Cowan/CBC)
Newfoundland and Labrador's health minister says contracts employing agency nurses are approved and handled by the province's health authority, but the Official Opposition says documents obtained by the party say otherwise.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Tony Wakeham questioned Health Minister Tom Osborne on several occasions about a contract given to Canada Health Labs to employ agency nurses in western Newfoundland, and the government's spending of tens of millions of dollars on agency nurses as reported in the Globe and Mail.
Despite repeated assertions from Osborne and Premier Andrew Furey this week that those contracts are handled by the health authority alone, Wakeham on Tuesday showed a document obtained through access-to-information legislation that reportedly shows former health minister John Haggie approving expenditures to Canada Health Labs in 2022.
"The premier and the minister of health were distancing themselves from this and saying that it was all the health authority's doing and they had nothing to do with it. And yet the evidence doesn't point that way," Wakeham told reporters.
Wakeham also highlighted a document that reportedly shows emails between Furey's office and Canada Health Labs before travel nurses were hired.
He said the agency was brought into Newfoundland and Labrador through the premier's office, and he's demanding an investigation by the auditor general and the RCMP.
"It is scandalous. It is unbelievable that a government would be able to sit back and say, 'Not our problem. We didn't do it. We had no idea it was happening,'" he said.
Health and Community Services Minister Tom Osborne told reporters spending was approved for one agency nurse contract but done through a request process, as the contract would have exceeded the health authority's budget. (Arlette Lazarenko/CBC)
Osborne told reporters he couldn't speak to decisions made by Haggie during his tenure as minister but did say he has approved one contract for the use of agency nurses since he assumed the role.
He restated that the contracts are the responsibility of the health authority but added ministerial approval is required in some instances.
"What they are required to do … is to seek ministerial approval if they are going to spend outside of their budget amount, if they are going to go over their budget amount. And the agency nursing contracts would have done that," Osborne said.
"I understand the opposition wants to play politics but the record must be set straight. We all got emails during the pandemic with people offering to help.… The premier's office forwarded that email on. My understanding is that there was no direction attached to them forwarding the email on."
Osborne said government chose to employ travel nurses to keep emergency rooms and care units across the province open — and implied he would have likely been criticized by Wakeham if the email from the premier's office hadn't been passed on as a solution to nursing shortages.
The health minister has been vocal in his desire to end the use of agency nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador by increasing recruitment efforts for health-care professionals.
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