Ombudsman Ontario

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Press Releases

2009

• 29/11/2009 - Ontario uncaps Avastin funding in wake of Ombudsman probe

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today welcomed the province’s announcement that it will uncap the funding of Avastin for colorectal cancer patients. Mr. Marin recommended that the “absurd and indefensible” cap be lifted two months ago in his report, A Vast Injustice.

• 16/10/2009 - Ombudsman Releases New Edition of Guide to Province's Sunshine Law

  Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin yesterday officially presented the new edition of his office's guide to open municipal meetings in Ontario – The Sunshine Law Handbook – to Mayor Mike Bradley of Sarnia. The Ombudsman's Office will distribute the guide free of charge to every mayor and municipal councillor across the province.

• 14/10/2009 - Media Advisory: Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin to Address Economic Club of Canada on Accountability of Ontario Agencies

  Ontario Ombudsman Andre Marin has been invited by the Economic Club of Canada to deliver a speech on "The ABCs of Rebuilding Public Trust: Restoring Accountability to Ontario's Agencies."

• 01/10/2009 - Statement by Ontario Ombudsman André Marin on Avastin funding

  Yesterday, I issued A Vast Injustice, a report on my investigation into the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s decision-making concerning the funding of Avastin for colorectal cancer patients. The basic premise of my report is that although the Ministry is entitled to consider cost in deciding whether to fund a cancer drug such as Avastin, any limit on the duration of funding should be supported by sound medical evidence.

• 30/09/2009 - Ministry decision to restrict cancer drug “verges on cruelty” - Ombudsman finds cap on Avastin funding unreasonable and wrong

  The Ontario government’s funding cutoff for patients taking the cancer drug Avastin is unreasonable, wrong and “verges on cruelty,” Ontario Ombudsman André Marin’s latest investigation has found.

• 14/09/2009 - Ombudsman applauds restrictions on lottery ticket retailer play

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today welcomed the announcement by the provincial government and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) that will ban retailers from buying lottery tickets in their own stores as of Nov. 3.

• 04/09/2009 - Ombudsman now has the power to investigate Cambridge Memorial Hospital

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin now has the jurisdiction to investigate complaints about Cambridge Memorial Hospital, following the provincial government’s appointment of a supervisor for the institution.

• 25/08/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman urges stricter controls on colleges: Cambrian left students unqualified; Ministry “abdicated responsibility”

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today issued a strong back-to-school warning to the provincial government to keep a closer eye on colleges, to ensure students are getting the education they pay for.

• 23/07/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman comments on province’s PET scan announcement

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today welcomed the government’s announcement that it will make positron emission tomography (PET) scanning a publicly insured health service for some cancer and cardiac patients. The announcement is based in part on the Ombudsman’s advice, following his investigation into the government’s PET scan program evaluation process.

• 14/07/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman calls on government to better protect students: Ministry incompetence led to private career college “disaster”

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today urged the province’s Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to get tougher on unscrupulous private career colleges. His latest special report, Too Cool For School, outlines the “unmitigated disaster” of Bestech Academy, an unregistered, illegal operation which the Ministry tolerated for more than two years – while actually paying for several students to attend classes there, and subsequently even hiring its president to work in the Ministry.

• 23/06/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman provides value, good governance in hard times Annual Report 2008-2009

  In releasing his fourth annual report today, Ontario Ombudsman André Marin demonstrates how his office “delivers big value on a small budget,” through efficient, hard-hitting investigations that help make government better.

• 04/06/2009 - Ombudsman to investigate Ontario’s limited funding of cancer drug

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has launched an investigation into the provincial Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s funding of Avastin, a drug for colon cancer patients. The province’s funding of Avastin is limited to 16 two-week cycles, regardless of patient response to the treatment. The Ombudsman is investigating whether the Ministry’s decision to limit funding in this way was informed and reasonable.

• 29/04/2009 - Ombudsman finds closed Oshawa meeting illegally involved lobbying, not just ‘education’

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has found a city of Oshawa committee met inappropriately behind closed doors with a private business in a “lobbying” session that was supposed to be for “education and training” purposes only. “This is the very type of conduct that municipalities should scrupulously avoid occurring in a closed committee meeting,” he says in his report, The ABCs of Education and Training.

• 27/04/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman censures Oshawa for "pirating" report

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today tabled a report signalling to municipalities that they must respect the law when they engage the services of his office. In his report, Pirating our Property, the Ombudsman found the city of Oshawa’s failure to co-operate with his office to be contrary to law.

• 17/04/2009 - Ombudsman now has the power to investigate Quinte Healthcare Corporation

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin now has the jurisdiction to investigate complaints about Quinte Healthcare Corporation, following the provincial government’s appointment of a supervisor for the institution.

• 06/04/2009 - Ombudsman André Marin to receive Ontario Bar Association award for excellence in public sector law

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin will be presented with the Ontario Bar Association’s 2009 Tom Marshall Award of Excellence at an award ceremony to be held in Toronto on April 27. The award honours Mr. Marin’s outstanding achievements in the practice of public sector law in Ontario.

• 30/03/2009 - Ombudsman speaking to law students at University of Windsor on “Accountability in the Administrative State”

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin will be speaking to University of Windsor law students in the "Access to Justice" course on March 31, 2009, about his role as Ombudsman and how his office operates. He will detail some of his high-profile investigations and their aftermath, including his probes of the province's Special Investigations Unit and the Ontario lottery system.

• 24/03/2009 - Ombudsman to investigate Hamilton/Niagara-area LHIN

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin announced today he is launching an investigation into the decision-making process of the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network (HNHB LHIN), including its approach to its mandate of “community engagement” when it deals with proposals for the restructuring of health services.

• 27/02/2009 - Ombudsman investigating program accreditation at Cambrian College in Sudbury

  The Special Ombudsman Response Team (SORT) is investigating eleven complaints from students about Cambrian College's two-year Health Information Management program in Sudbury. The students allege that the program is unaccredited leaving them professionally unqualified upon graduation.

• 20/02/2009 - New closed meeting reports issued: Ombudsman finds two violations of "Sunshine Law" in townships of Emo and Nipissing

  For the first time since the province’s new enforcement system for open municipal meetings came into effect a year ago, Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has found two municipalities in contravention of the “sunshine law” provisions of the Municipal Act.

• 05/02/2009 - Ombudsman gives OLG six months to prove lottery fraud under control - May recommend ban on "insider" play

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin today put the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) on notice that it has six months to report back to him on its efforts to curb and control “insider” lottery wins – or his office will recommend barring retailers and OLG employees from playing OLG games. “Insiders are in purgatory,” said Mr. Marin. “If they prove to be an ungovernable lot, they shouldn’t be allowed to play.”

• 13/01/2009 - Ontario Ombudsman André Marin in Winnipeg to discuss police oversight

  Ontario Ombudsman André Marin will be in Winnipeg January 14-15 to address a community forum on policing. He will also meet with senior government, police and First Nations officials with regard to Manitoba’s plan to establish an independent body to investigate police when they are involved in the death or serious injury of a civilian.

• 08/01/2009 - Ombudsman to investigate oversight of Bestech Academy

  Ombudsman André Marin today announced an investigation into the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities’ oversight of Bestech Academy, a private vocational college in Stoney Creek.