One day after the public release of the Cameron report, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said that he will not replace his health minister, despite opposition calls for his resignation.

"The blame game doesn't work. There's no smoking gun on this — there's no conspiracy," Williams said at news conference Wednesday.

Provincial New Democratic party Leader Lorriane Micheal and Liberal Leader Yvonne Jones had called for Health Minister Ross Wiseman's resignation after Justice Margaret Cameron issued her report on the public inquiry into faulty breast cancer tests at Eastern Health. The report found Wiseman was lacking in due diligence in his role as health minister during the scandal.

Williams praised Wiseman for calling the public inquiry into mistakes in Eastern Health labs, and credited him with being the driving force behind getting the facts to the public. Wiseman took over as minister of Health and Community Services in January 2007.

The hundreds of breast cancer tests at the heart of the public inquiry took place between 1997 and 2005.

Calls for shake up

There have also been calls for a shakeup at Eastern Health, including replacing members on the board of trustees.

Williams said Wednesday that from what he's heard, patients don't want someone to blame, they just want to put the scandal behind them; he said it doesn't make sense to him to replace people who have so much health-care experience.

"If people want to start to come out and start to call for doctor's resignations or lab technicians or all the administration at Eastern Health resignations, this thing can just mushroom. I don't think anybody is served by that," Williams said.

Michael said she believes Williams is missing the point.

"He has to recognize the need for having new faces — the need for having fresh blood," she said.

Michael said putting different people in charge would provide patients who must continue their cancer treatment with tangible evidence that change is underway.

The provincial government said it plans to make progress on the recommendations in Cameron's report by the March 31, 2010, date recommended.

Williams said Wednesday his government will implement at least half of the 60 recommendations of the report "very, very quickly."

Cameron heard evidence over a seven-month period in 2008 on how almost 400 breast cancer patients received incorrect test results. A year ago, the government disclosed that 108 of those patients had died, although it will never be known whether different treatments would have extended or saved lives.