Courtyard Group Provided Unique Expertise and Great Value to MTCU

    
    (*)Experience in healthcare capital planning used for the colleges and
    university sector(*)

    (*)President and CEO of Colleges Ontario Prepared to Speak with Media
    about Value of Mandate(*)
    

    TORONTO, Sept. 1 /CNW/ - Courtyard Group is Canada's leading group of
healthcare consultants, combining doctors and nurses with financial experts
and computer engineers who deliver leading-edge solutions in the health
sector.
    Founders and partners of Courtyard Group have been sought out by
hospitals, international cities and both the Harris and McGuinty governments
for their expertise on issues like eHealth, wait times and capital planning.

    
    Courtyard Group is not political - has advised both Conservative and
    Liberal governments
    

    Courtyard Group employs 150 healthcare experts in Canada, the US and UK
-including two people who formerly worked for elected officials. The
often-repeated suggestion that Courtyard Group has "Liberal ties" is abjectly
false. It is unfair to the two individuals who are proven healthcare experts
to be dismissed as nothing more than "former Liberal staffers". It is equally
unfair to the other 148 healthcare experts to suggest that their entire value
rests on these two individuals. It is completely false and simply untrue to
suggest that Courtyard Group wins - or has won - any contract based on the
employment history of a tiny minority of our staff. Courtyard Group is
comprised of leading professionals in the healthcare sector and has worked -
and continues to work - with several provincial governments, as well as large
hospital systems across Canada, the US and the UK.
    In the midst of persistent references to 'Liberal ties', it has been
overlooked that Dr. Michael Guerriere - one of the four founders of Courtyard
Group - received appointments by the Harris government to Chair a committee
for former Health Minister Elizabeth Witmer to report on the status of eHealth
in 1999 (a report that made recommendations which were never made public), to
serve as special investigator at the North York Branson Hospital, and to serve
on the Ryerson Board of Governors.

    Capital planning expertise for MTCU

    The Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities contacted Courtyard
Group about its proven expertise in hospital capital planning and asked for
assistance in developing a process for capital planning for Ontario's college
and university campuses. Many of Ontario's colleges and universities were
built more than 40 years ago - meaning that significant renovations, upgrades
and new construction are required for safety, technological and space
requirements.
    MTCU sought a rigorous process for assessing and planning for college and
university capital requirements - similar to the processes developed by
Courtyard Group for the Ontario hospital sector.
    John Ronson is a partner with Courtyard Group and was engaged by the
Ontario government to establish clear processes to assess the capital needs
for Ontario's hospitals. Mr. Ronson was then asked to lead the MTCU project as
a result of this expertise and visited every campus and President of Ontario's
colleges and universities to assess their capital requirements and priorities.
    College and university officials welcomed this process and Courtyard
Group is confident that any official that it met with would provide positive
comments about the importance and value of the process.
    One of the lead stakeholders - Linda Franklin, President and CEO of
Colleges Ontario is also prepared to speak with media about the mandate and
tremendous value of the process.
    After assessing all requirements, Courtyard Group provided a report
detailing a capital planning process to MTCU as well as recommendations for
next steps - deliverables that are publicly available on the Ministry's
website here: http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/tcu/about/longtermcapplan.html.
Given that Mr. Ronson was the only person in Ontario to have met with
officials in every college and university, Courtyard Group was also requested
to provide analysis on priorities should any short-term capital dollars become
available in the next budget year.

    Invoicing MTCU

    Courtyard Group completed the required deliverables on time and on
budget. We provided significant value and met the objectives of MTCU.
    The MTCU contract required Courtyard Group to undertake extensive travel
across the province to visit all college and university campuses. The contract
provided a budget of $15,000 to cover travel expenses.
    Upon receiving our invoice, a request was made by the government to
remove any hotel, meal or incidental expenses associated with our travel.
Although these expenses were legitimate, not excessive and complied with the
government's expense policies, we agreed to their request and credited the
government for $6,354.94.

For further information:

For further information: Dave Wattling, Managing Partner, Courtyard
Group Ltd., dave.wattling@courtyard-group.com; Stakeholder Contact: Linda
Franklin, President and CEO - Colleges Ontario, (416) 596-0741 X226