Dan Mazier, Riding Mountain
“The government spent more than $275 million on health benefits for asylum seekers whose claims were rejected. They get extra care like physiotherapy and home care that many Canadians do not get. I want to know if the government thinks this is fair to the taxpayers paying for it.”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to do the late show. I want to begin with a brief comment, given that we are discussing the work of the health committee. We just received word that the CEO and president of Canada Health Infoway, Michael Green, has been fired by the Infoway board. As Canadians are finding out, Canada Health Infoway is a taxpayer-funded organization the Liberals funnelled $300 million through to run the failed PrescribeIT program. This news comes just hours after Conservatives uncovered that Mr. Green pocketed over $830,000 in taxpayer-funded compensation last year, which included a maximum performance bonus of over $215,000. The only reason Michael Green was fired from Canada Health Infoway is that Conservatives exposed the Liberals’ $300-million PrescribeIT failure. The health minister had every tool to audit and evaluate Infoway, but instead she let the CEO of a failing program pocket millions in taxpayer-funded compensation, including maximum performance bonuses. Conservatives will not stop investigating PrescribeIT until we find out where every dollar went and who else got rich. We are not here to discuss the $300-million PrescribeIT scandal, though. We are here to discuss the $1.5-billion interim federal health program scandal. Thanks to my colleague from Red Deer, Conservatives have uncovered that the Liberals have spent more than $275 million on health benefits for asylum seekers whose claims were rejected by the government’s own Immigration and Refugee Board. According to the Liberal government, rejected asylum claimants remain eligible for deluxe health benefits like physiotherapy, home care and speech therapy. As such, my question is simple. Does the Liberal member believe it is fair that a rejected asylum claimant receives better taxpayer-funded health benefits than the Canadians who are paying for them?”
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to do the late show. I want to begin with a brief comment, given that we are discussing the work of the health committee. We just received word that the CEO and president of Canada Health Infoway, Michael Green, has been fired by the Infoway board. As Canadians are finding out, Canada Health Infoway is a taxpayer-funded organization the Liberals funnelled $300 million through to run the failed PrescribeIT program. This news comes just hours after Conservatives uncovered that Mr. Green pocketed over $830,000 in taxpayer-funded compensation last year, which included a maximum performance bonus of over $215,000. The only reason Michael Green was fired from Canada Health Infoway is that Conservatives exposed the Liberals’ $300-million PrescribeIT failure. The health minister had every tool to audit and evaluate Infoway, but instead she let the CEO of a failing program pocket millions in taxpayer-funded compensation, including maximum performance bonuses. Conservatives will not stop investigating PrescribeIT until we find out where every dollar went and who else got rich. We are not here to discuss the $300-million PrescribeIT scandal, though. We are here to discuss the $1.5-billion interim federal health program scandal. Thanks to my colleague from Red Deer, Conservatives have uncovered that the Liberals have spent more than $275 million on health benefits for asylum seekers whose claims were rejected by the government’s own Immigration and Refugee Board. According to the Liberal government, rejected asylum claimants remain eligible for deluxe health benefits like physiotherapy, home care and speech therapy. As such, my question is simple. Does the Liberal member believe it is fair that a rejected asylum claimant receives better taxpayer-funded health benefits than the Canadians who are paying for them?