St. John’s, NL (July 8, 2025) Barry Petten, PC Shadow Minister for Health and Community Services and MHA for Conception Bay South, today released a document uncovered through access to information that clearly shows the Liberals directly approved a lucrative contract at the center of the travel nurse scandal.

The letter, a copy of which is attached, shows Liberal Minister John Haggie not only approved the contractual arrangement with Canadian Health Labs, but also directly wrote that “the Department is supportive of this initiative.”

A second letter, also obtained through access to information and attached, shows that Minister Haggie later responded to NAPE’s concerns about the use of travel nurses, defending the hiring of the out of province agency.

“The Auditor General noted in her report that this company had less than two years of experience and that no formal assessment was conducted to evaluate its credibility or capability to perform the work,” stated Petten.

“The Auditor General pointed out that this contract began with a call from a Liberal consultant to the Premier’s Office,” continued Petten. “With a front bench Minister signing off on the contract, the Liberals are strictly to blame for the scandal which led to the paying of milk frothers, air fryers, electric car rentals, and overpriced apartments.”

Petten also noted that 72 casual nurses were subsequently laid off while private, for-profit, agency nurses were brought in at an average cost of $400,000 each.

“This is all the more reason why, as our Leader has called for, we need a Judicial Inquiry to get to the bottom of this Liberal scandal,” concluded Petten.