Why hasn't Liberal Jim Bradley called for an investigation into high Niagara hospital death-rate?

Roman Bobak wrote in “Why hasn’t Bradley asked for death rate investigation?” (Niagara This Week, Jan.11, 2008):

    “Further to D.G. Smith's letter to the editor (What is Welland death rate?, Jan. 4) Smith might try obtaining a response to his valid questions by writing to: Welland's local MPP; George Smitherman, Ontario's health minister; and Ontario's Opposition health critic, Elizabeth Witmer.
    If, according to Smith, administrators knew their respective hospital mortality rate figures for a number of years and yet did not reveal them, then that issue raises further disturbing questions about how Dalton McGuinty's Liberals are running their health monopoly.
    After claiming that he "needed" his health tax, McGuinty then announced a $1.1-billion tax cut. Yet, the Niagara Health System just stated it needed more money. The Liberals now sit on a $2.5-billion surplus, after having collected billions since 2004 from their hated "health" tax. During the televised leaders debate (Sept. 20, prior to the last election) Premier McGuinty twice said that one-half of Ontario's spending goes just to one ministry: health.
    Is spending 50 per cent of the entire provincial budget on health care still not enough? Are these billions of dollars being effectively allocated by the government within its non-competitive system? Where has the health tax money gone? St. Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley, who in opposition petitioned in the Legislature to "ensure government revenues fund health services, not tax-cuts," didn't even bother to call for an investigation into the high mortality rates revealed within his own riding.
    Last month, the Ontario Auditor uncovered a host of severe health-care problems -- system wide. A health-care Charter challenge is also now before the Ontario court. Ontarians are going to the States for care because our monopoly can't provide it here.
    Given the above Liberal prevarication, and pursuant to the Auditor's recent findings, I make a public plea for Ontario's Ombudsman to immediately launch a sweeping investigation of our entire monopoly health system."
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Has Liberal MPP Jim Bradley set his riding of St. Catharines on auto-pilot, and already retired to hibernate for the next three and a half years?
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