(QUEENS PARK) - Randy Hillier, MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington blasted the McGuinty Government today in Question Period. Mr. Hillier rose in the Legislature to question the Minister of Health regarding the wasteful and unaccountable spending occurring at the South East LHIN. 

The Finlay family wants to ensure that Scotts going to be cared for, but your LHIN cant figure out where or how they spend money for people with acquired brain injuries, said Hillier. Minister, why are your LHINs not meeting the needs of Ontario families?

Napanee resident Scott Finlay, a former skier who was critically injured during the 1978 Canadian Downhill Championships, has spent the last 33 years under the care of his loving parents. But as his parents are now both over 80 years old, they have called on the LHIN to provide much needed funding to ensure Scott receives the type of care they may soon be no longer capable of providing.

In ongoing conversations with South East LHIN Chair Georgina Thompson, Mr. Hillier has been trying to help the Finlay family by inquiring about the funding process for patients with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI). After spending two months determining how funding for ABI patients through the LHIN works, Thompson finally provided Mr. Hillier with news: the LHIN was unsure how their ABI budget was being spent.

Two months later she told me she had some good news, and she had some bad news - the bad news was that the LHIN doesnt know how or where theyre spending their Acquired Brain Injuries budget, said Hillier today in Question Period. The good news - the south-east LHIN has now hired a consultant - on a $357,000 contract - to track down where they spent the money meant for people like Scott Finlay.

In Question Period, the McGuinty Liberal Government could not provide a suitable explanation to justify how or why the LHIN would spend over $350 000 on a consultant, one whose only duty would be to do a job which was the LHINs responsibility. Mr. Hillier, along with PC Leader Tim Hudak and the rest of the PC Caucus, have pledged to do away with the unaccountable LHIN bureaucracy, redirecting dollars towards front-line care for patients like Scott Finlay.