QUEEN’S PARK — NDP MPP Catherine Fife called on Premier Wynne to both admit she failed vulnerable citizens and front-line workers across the province, and demand the resignation of her Minister for Community and Social Services, Helena Jaczek, following the Liberal government’s disastrous rollout of the Social Assistance Management System (SAMS).
“Over the last few days we’ve learned that the people of Ontario will once again be forced to pay for this government’s incompetence when it comes to the SAMS file,” said Fife, MPP for Kitchener-Waterloo. “The disastrous implementation of SAMS hurt some of the most vulnerable people in this province.”
Following a scathing Auditor General report that highlight serious concerns around consultants overseeing consultants, the Premier has now decided to hire the same consultants to fix the issues they got wrong in the first place, and to pay them an extra $32 million dollars.
“The people of Ontario are left to pay the price again,” said Fife.
The Premier not only refused to hold her minister accountable, she also praised her work.
“Let me get this right. The minister didn’t see the internal memo addressed to her, outlining these problems. She didn’t see the interim report highlighting the same problems,” said Fife. “She apparently didn’t know about the implementation problems multiple jurisdictions experienced with SAMS-like programs. She just had no idea what was going on in her own ministry when it came to SAMS.”
“Will the Premier hold this minister to account and demand her resignation?” asked Fife.