Markham Stouffville Hospital
Markham Stouffville Hospital has terminated the employment of the senior executive who oversaw its massive redevelopment, even before a probe into the project is completed.
The hospital placed Suman Bahl on leave on Sept. 17 and hired Deloitte to audit the financing and procurement for its $400-million construction project. On Monday, employees were told Ms. Bahl is no longer employed at Markham Stouffville, effective immediately. Hospital spokeswoman Lisa Joyce confirmed Ms. Bahl has been terminated from Markham Stouffville.
"This has been a difficult time for all those involved, and I can assure you that these decisions were not taken lightly," chief executive officer Jo-anne Marr said in a brief message to employees.
Markham Stouffville hired forensic auditors from Deloitte in September, after The Globe and Mail reported on internal investigations at St. Michael's Hospital and St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto.
Ms. Joyce said earlier Markham Stouffville launched its probe because Vas Georgiou, a senior executive at St. Michael's who is the subject of that hospital's internal probe, was involved in Markham Stouffville's expansion while he worked at Infrastructure Ontario.
Mr. Georgiou's lawyer, Gavin Tighe, said his client had no involvement in the Deloitte inquiry or in any decision regarding Ms. Bahl's employment.
In an update to employees on the Deloitte audit earlier this month, Ms. Marr said Markham Stouffville received an anonymous complaint after The Globe's first story. "The whistleblower has made a number of allegations that are now being investigated by Deloitte," she said.
Markham Stouffville's Ms. Joyce declined to answer any questions about the Deloitte audit. The Globe has learned that among the matters the auditors are examining are allegations that a flooring contract was awarded to companies linked to Ms. Bahl's husband.
Ms. Bahl did not return messages on Monday.
Ms. Bahl has a career spanning more than two decades working on hospital redevelopment projects and managing the facilities. In October, 2007, she joined Markham Stouffville, where she was most recently vice-president of capital development and corporate services.
At Markham Stouffville, Ms. Bahl presided over the hospital's redevelopment project, completed in 2014. A four-storey addition and renovation doubled the size of the hospital, which serves the fast-growing communities of Markham and Stouffville north of Toronto.
Two employees who reported to Ms. Bahl also followed her out the door: Dharma Lakshman, director of facilities and support services, and Doug Wilson, project manager, redevelopment. A separate e-mail sent to employees on Monday said the two men are "no longer employed at the hospital."
Ms. Joyce declined to elaborate on the departures beyond saying, "This is the extent of the staffing changes we anticipate at this time." Mr. Lakshman and Mr. Wilson could not be reached for comment.
Before joining Markham Stouffville, Ms. Bahl spent nine years as director of redevelopment at St. Joseph's Health Centre. Mr. Lakshman was one of several employees in redevelopment at Markham Stouffville who also worked with Ms. Bahl at St. Joseph's.
Mr. Wilson worked with Ms. Bahl at both St. Joseph's and the Hospital for Sick Children. Ms. Bahl was at Sick Kids from 1990 to 1998.
In her update earlier this month, Ms. Marr invited employees to share any information directly with Deloitte at a confidential e-mail address.
However, Canada has been criticized for a legal regime that does not better protect employees who want to raise issues about their organizations.
During the recent federal election campaign, Transparency International Canada – an anti-corruption organization – called on all of the major federal parties to address what it has called the "deficiencies in Canada's whistleblower protecting legislation." The organization asked all of the parties to lay out how they would protect whistleblowers, and received responses from only the Green Party and the New Democrats.
With a report from Stephanie Chambers