EXCLUSIVE: Conservatives blast Liberals over mismanaged vaccine compensation program

Following accusations that a consulting firm pocketed nearly 70 per cent of vaccine injury funds, Conservatives are calling for the money to be returned to Canadians.

Source: Ross Wightman

Following accusations that a consulting firm pocketed nearly 70 per cent of taxpayers’ dollars meant to go to the federal vaccine injury compensation fund, Conservatives are calling for the money to be returned to Canadians.

During Question Period in the House of Commons on Friday, the Conservative health critic Dan Mazier grilled the Liberals over their “failed” Vaccine Injury Support Program, blasting them for hiring the “high-priced” consulting firm OXARO to administer the fund.

“The Liberals gave away over $50 million to a high-priced consulting firm called OXARO. The consulting firm pocketed $36 million in administration fees, while over 1700 Canadians are still waiting on their claims,” Mazier said in the House. “After Conservatives demanded an investigation, the Liberals were forced to cancel the contract. The Liberal minister knows unqualified consultants took millions of tax dollars without delivering results.”

The Liberals’ parliamentary secretary for the Ministry of Health, Maggie Chi, disavowed the firm, saying its alleged conduct with the funds meant to support vulnerable Canadians was “completely unacceptable.”

“The Public Health Agency of Canada (is) accelerating the audit of OXARO and its management of the program, and will make the results of this audit public once available,” she said. “We’re bringing administration of the program internally, which will align with other G7 countries and Quebec and will ensure the taxpayers’ dollars are being spent appropriately.”

OXARO told True North in an email that the program applications “grew to more than 10 times the originally anticipated levels, and the additional funding to the company was due to adaptations made to meet the new volume of requests.OXARO did not respond to True North’s request to comment.

The company informed True North that 55 per cent of the funding to the program was used by OXARO in the implementation and administration of the program, 15 per cent was allocated for physicians, while just 30 per cent was allocated to applicants who were “independently approved by physicians.”

Four Conservative MPs, including Mazier, penned a joint letter to the Liberal chair of the Commons’ health committee, dated July 14. The letter accused the Liberals of hiring a company with “no credible experience” in healthcare to administer the program.

The letter noted investigations revealing that OXARO pocketed nearly $35 million, leaving only $16.9 million to vaccine-injured Canadians. The MPs further accused the organization of acting more like a “fraternity house” than a professional organization, as whistleblowers reportedly revealed that administrators engaged in “constant workplace drinking, ping pong and Netflix.”

According to publicly available data on the program, the VISP has had at least 3,317 claims, while only 234 of those claims have been approved. Only 1,227 of those claims have been assessed, leaving 2,090 in limbo as they await processing through the system. OXARO, however, claims on its website that the company has processed more than 1,500 claims.

The VISP received an additional $36.4 million in funding in Budget 2024, bringing the total funding of the program to $111.4 million. According to the federal government, $80.8 million was set to be allocated to OXARO for administration and claim payments over five years.

Ross Wightman, a recipient of the vaccine injury fund and an advocate for fair compensation for such injuries, told True North that the news of mismanagement in the program was “deeply concerning.”

True North reported on Wightman’s struggle with the program after being injured by the AstraZeneca shot in January 2024.

“The Public Health Agency of Canada has obviously given (OXARO) a blank cheque without any accountability. If it wasn’t for vaccine-injured people like myself, who’ve been screaming from the rooftops for years now, this egregious mismanagement likely would’ve continued,” Wightman told True North. “This program was designed to help people with devastating and life-altering injuries. Individuals who have died, lost use of organs and neurological conditions affecting mobility for life.”

Another signatory of the letter, Conservative MP Dr. Matt Strauss, similarly grilled the Liberals during Friday’s Question Period, accusing the Liberals of lying about supporting Canadians with taxes only to help their “consultant friends” get rich.