MEMBER OF PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE UNDER SCRUTINY

Doc removes MPP link

After Sun story, website revised

By JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU


Dr. Shafiq Qaadri has quietly removed a link from his medical clinic website to his MPP website after a Sun story last week about his part-time practice, which bills him as a "world-renowned physician" and includes ads targeting new Canadians for a slew of services that aren't covered by the public health system.

The link to Qaadri's full-time job as the elected rep for Etobicoke North, for which he was paid $130,000 last year, could be found on his doctorq.ca site as late as July 16, according to Google's cache service.

But since the story ran July 19, the link has been removed from Qaadri's list of "Trusted Sources."

"The domains are separate," Qaadri said Friday, taking a break from seeing patients at his Roncesvalles Ave. clinic. "Sometimes the tech guys make changes. I monitor it mostly for medical content."

Qaadri wouldn't say whether he knew the link existed or if he had instructed it be removed.

Ontario's Integrity Commission office monitors MPP conflicts and has in the past stated members should be careful not to include anything on their MPP sites that could be construed as advertising.

'SUPER-CAFFEINATED FELLOW'

Nothing prohibits backbench MPPs from having a part-time career and Qaadri said the Friday afternoons and evenings he spends at his practice in no way inhibit his work as a legislator.

"I'm a pretty full-tilt, overtime, super-caffeinated fellow," Qaadri said. "I'm firing on all cylinders."

His most important job is a father to his two school-age children and everything takes a back seat to that, he said.

But he maintains he keeps up a heavy workload in his riding and said his constituents would back him up on that point.

The splashy medical website -- which he declined to give a cost for -- has been up and running for a few months and is intended to be a "public medical resource."

The slick site includes ads for his 2006 book The Testosterone Factor: A Practical Guide to Improving Vitality and Virility, Naturally along with a link to purchase it through amazon.com.

It offers videos on medical topics and notes Qaadri writes a monthly medical column, was recently appointed to the Healthcare Policy Group of the Council of State Governments in New York, has published more than 700 articles, given 140 lectures and 1,000 radio and TV interviews and is available to be booked for public events or a media appearance.

It also says he was elected an MPP in '03, re-elected in '07 and is a "long-time advocate of quality public health care." But in addition to his commitment to pubic health care, Qaadri also advertises his services as a designated medical practitioner who can attend to any number of immigration-related medical needs.

"To begin with -- welcome to Canada," Qaadri's full-bodied, online video presence says in the Immigration Medical Examinations section of his site.

"I'm honoured to be one of the Canadian doctors performing immigration medical exams or visa extension exams in Canada for a whole host of people -- permanent resident applicants, temporary resident applicants, convention refugees, those applying to be convention refugees, visitors extending their visas to stay in Canada, tourists extending their visas to stay in Canada, students extending their visas to stay in Canada, temporary workers extending their visas to stay in Canada, sponsored applicants and diplomats."

He also says he's designated by the government of Canada to do such work in English, French, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

'UNLISTED OHIP PROCEDURES'

The website does not note that such services are not covered under OHIP.

Qaadri said many of the people who are required to take such medical exams can get covered under the Interim Federal Health Program (IFHP). But Health Canada's website says the IFHP would only cover the cost for those who are unable to pay for the exams themselves.

"Dr. Qaadri's obsession with unlisted OHIP procedures betrays the Liberals' purported commitment to pubic health," New Democrat MPP Peter Kormos said, adding Qaadri can't have much spare time to work for his constituents in one of the province's least affluent ridings. "He's earning 100% of his MPP salary but he's not giving it 100% of his attention."

But Qaadri's boss, Premier Dalton McGuinty, says he's not troubled.

"One thing I know about Dr. Qaadri -- he's a high energy kind of guy and I think he does continue to work at least a little bit in his family practice," McGuinty said last week. "His patients are reluctant to part with him. ... His constituents obviously ultimately hold him to account when it comes to his work as an MPP. I certainly have never had anything but a strong contribution from him at Queen's Park and our caucus deliberations."

Qaadri earned $116,000 last year as a backbench MP and was paid an additional $16,000 as chairman of the standing committee on social policy.