When Arthur T. Porter blew into Montreal to run the McGill University Health Centre in 2004, a well-spoken, deal-making whirlwind touched down on the city. The oncologist deftly worked the city’s cocktail party circuit, forging close ties with some of Quebec’s most influential people and securing several high-profile private- and public-sector positions: landing a spot on the board of Air Canada; forging relationships with a former premier as well as a Quebec Liberal health minister; and lastly – the appointment for which he is best known because it was handed to him by Prime Minister Stephen Harper – chairing the civilian committee that oversees Canada’s spies and how they gather secrets.
With his colourful bowties, immense frame and the air of grandeur that peppers his speech (“It’s not the sort of things one does, it’s really what one has been able to accomplish”), he quickly charmed much of Montreal’s anglophone establishment before he resigned his position this time last year and left the country.
But the problem with forces of nature that powerful is that they leave unseen cracks after they head out of town, and it wasn’t until this week that Montrealers realized just how much of a mess Dr. Porter left behind.
On Tuesday, the Quebec government released the results of an audit that found the MUHC’s planned deficit of $12-million has ballooned to $115-million – a financial state so precarious that the hospital network has been assigned a special overseer to monitor its spending. The Health Ministry called the move one step short of trusteeship.
But that’s just the beginning of the MUHC’s problems. Quebec’s anti-corruption task force has also alleged that the hospital network was the victim of fraud in connection with its planned $1.3-billion superhospital, which is due to be unveiled in 2015. In November, police charged two former executives at SNC-Lavalin, the engineering firm that was awarded the contract during Dr. Porter’s tenure, with multiple criminal charges, including fraud and using falsified documents.
As for Dr. Porter, his exact whereabouts are unknown. A few months ago, reporters with La Presse traced him to a gated community in the Bahamas, where he runs a private cancer clinic. When McGill University recently sued him for $317,000, most of which was provided as part of a low-interest loan, it filed e-mail exhibits in court where he claimed he had returned to his native country, Sierra Leone. He has not responded to numerous requests for interviews from The Globe and Mail, including phone calls, e-mails and one letter.
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