The departure of Alan Hudson as chairman of eHealth will be seen by many as predictable fallout from the controversy surrounding that provincial agency. But if the public isn't surprised, you can bet that many Ontario Liberals are.

There was much speculation the past few weeks that Hudson would be the last to fall. He was Dalton McGuinty's golden boy, perhaps more trusted by the Premier on health care policy than anyone else in the province. As such, there were predictions being made that David Caplan - the amiable but expendable Health Minister - would be thrown under the bus first.

That it was Hudson instead - or at least first - is a victory for fairness, since there doesn't appear to have been anyone more responsible for the problems that arose over eHealth. But it's also a huge concession by McGuinty that effectively signals defeat on any serious effort to digitalize provincial health records; with Hudson out of the picture, it's back to somewhere before square one.