FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2025
Statement by Matt MacFarlane: Political interference continues to harm healthcare on PEI
Charlottetown, PE – Yesterday the Standing Committee on Health and Social Development finally had the chance to review documents from Health PEI that it requested back in June. The committee requested that Health PEI CEO Melanie Fraser share documents related to the Health PEI Executive Leadership and the work of private consultants at KPMG in Toronto.
Unfortunately, although the committee clearly requested these documents be shared unredacted, they are heavily redacted and therefore omit crucial information concerning healthcare delivery on PEI. What’s more, after months of waiting, the redacted documents provided only partially fulfill the committee’s request.
What is the CEO of Health PEI trying to hide? We’ve waited months to review these documents and now Health PEI is hiding information that Islanders have the right to know.
What is abundantly clear from these documents, even when redacted, is that political interference in our healthcare system is rampant. The CEO of Health PEI in a letter to her board chair notes “Health PEI has been directed by government to reset its leadership team.” This directly implicates the Minister and Premier in the wasting of millions of tax dollars to put in place the people that will fall in line and not critique government.
We have seen similar political interference before. In 2018 the entire Health PEI board resigned when then-Minister of Health Robert Mitchell changed the legislation that took away powers from the board and put those powers into the hands of politicians like himself.
Islanders are never going to get the access to healthcare that they deserve if the government of the day doesn’t stop interfering with the professionals. We need to put people in positions of leadership within Health PEI who understand that they work for the good of Islanders and not just to protect the government in power.
I am deeply disappointed that the CEO is hiding information from Islanders and I am perhaps even more disappointed in the Minister and Premier who have created a situation where the leadership of our health authority cares more about their reputation than the care of Islanders.
Matt MacFarlane
Leader of the Green Party of PEI
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Katie Rankin
Chief of Staff
Office of the Third Party
Tel: (902) 213-6378
Email: kerankin@assembly.pe.ca