An adjournment debate about the end of federal funding for PrescribeIT, an electronic prescription service run by Canada Health Infoway, which received about $300 million over its lifetime. Dan Mazier of the Conservatives said the money was wasted given low adoption and continued fax use, and asked why Liberal members on the health committee voted to turn off the cameras during an emergency meeting called to investigate the spending. Tim Louis of the Liberals said funding ended because the program did not become self-sufficient after roughly a decade, with only about five percent of prescriptions using it, and argued health dollars should go to programs that are actually used. The exchange remained focused on PrescribeIT and the committee camera question.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .
“We wanted an investigation into $300 million the government wasted on a health program. When we asked for that, the Liberals turned off the committee cameras. Why did they turn off the cameras?”
“Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to be at the late show to follow up on some questions that need to be answered. Last week, Conservatives called an emergency meeting of the health committee to investigate the $300 million the Liberals wasted on PrescribeIT. When we moved a motion to call on the Auditor General to investigate the program, the Liberal parliamentary secretary for health moved a motion to turn off the committee cameras. My question is simple: Why did the Liberals turn off the cameras?”
Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honour to be at the late show to follow up on some questions that need to be answered. Last week, Conservatives called an emergency meeting of the health committee to investigate the $300 million the Liberals wasted on PrescribeIT. When we moved a motion to call on the Auditor General to investigate the program, the Liberal parliamentary secretary for health moved a motion to turn off the committee cameras. My question is simple: Why did the Liberals turn off the cameras?
Loses points more than most for Vague promise×3.5Loses points less than most for Off point
Tim Louis, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy (Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy)
LiberalLib
“We stopped funding PrescribeIT because it failed to become self-sufficient. After almost ten years, only five percent of Canadian prescriptions used it. We need to spend health care money where it actually works.”
“Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, Canada Health Infoway has received funding from the Government of Canada for 25 years. That is 25 years of Liberal and Conservative governments alike recognizing that we need to come together with the provinces and territories to jointly fund an organization that promotes improving our health data infrastructure. This collaboration with provinces and territories is essential in a country like Canada, where health care falls under provincial jurisdiction. This means that we need to work together, alongside the provinces and territories, ensuring that our health care system responds to the needs of all Canadians. That is why the previous government worked with Infoway and the provinces and territories to launch PrescribeIT in 2017. The federal government heard from our provincial and territorial partners that our health care data was being held back by a long-standing dependence on paper and fax to transmit prescriptions. We should not be relying on fax machines at a time when information is so easily accessible. To try to address this challenge, the previous government provided seed funding to Health Canada Infoway for a program that would replace this outdated reliance on fax machines. This was never intended to be long-term, ongoing funding. From the beginning, the plan was for PrescribeIT to become self-sufficient. Nearly a decade later, it was clear this plan had failed. While nearly 11 million prescriptions were fulfilled last year using PrescribeIT, that number is only 5% of prescriptions across Canada. Doctors and pharmacies alike did not use the system. Our new government came into office and took a look at what was working and what was not. Based on our careful review, we saw that there was no path for PrescribeIT to become financially sustainable, and we ended the funding for the program. The Conservatives seem to think there is something wrong with ending a program that has low uptake, but the fact is that our new government takes its role as steward and custodian of taxpayer dollars very seriously, especially when it comes to health care. We are committed to focusing on resources where those dollars will deliver the greatest benefit to patients and our health care system.”
Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, Canada Health Infoway has received funding from the Government of Canada for 25 years. That is 25 years of Liberal and Conservative governments alike recognizing that we need to come together with the provinces and territories to jointly fund an organization that promotes improving our health data infrastructure. This collaboration with provinces and territories is essential in a country like Canada, where health care falls under provincial jurisdiction. This means that we need to work together, alongside the provinces and territories, ensuring that our health care system responds to the needs of all Canadians. That is why the previous government worked with Infoway and the provinces and territories to launch PrescribeIT in 2017. The federal government heard from our provincial and territorial partners that our health care data was being held back by a long-standing dependence on paper and fax to transmit prescriptions. We should not be relying on fax machines at a time when information is so easily accessible. To try to address this challenge, the previous government provided seed funding to Health Canada Infoway for a program that would replace this outdated reliance on fax machines. This was never intended to be long-term, ongoing funding. From the beginning, the plan was for PrescribeIT to become self-sufficient. Nearly a decade later, it was clear this plan had failed. While nearly 11 million prescriptions were fulfilled last year using PrescribeIT, that number is only 5% of prescriptions across Canada. Doctors and pharmacies alike did not use the system. Our new government came into office and took a look at what was working and what was not. Based on our careful review, we saw that there was no path for PrescribeIT to become financially sustainable, and we ended the funding for the program. The Conservatives seem to think there is something wrong with ending a program that has low uptake, but the fact is that our new government takes its role as steward and custodian of taxpayer dollars very seriously, especially when it comes to health care. We are committed to focusing on resources where those dollars will deliver the greatest benefit to patients and our health care system.
“The government spent $300 million on an electronic prescription program, but people were still using faxes after 10 years. I want to know why the parliamentary secretary voted to turn off the cameras while our committee was investigating this.”
“Mr. Speaker, I am sort of confused, because yesterday at the health committee, the board chair of Health Infoway actually said that the program was a success, yet the Liberal government has been shutting it down. However, it still managed to spend $300 million and was still sending fax messages after 10 years. I will go back to my original question: Why did the parliamentary secretary for health vote to turn off the cameras at the health committee while we were investigating the $300 million spent on PrescribeIT? Why did she turn off the cameras?”
Official Hansard
Mr. Speaker, I am sort of confused, because yesterday at the health committee, the board chair of Health Infoway actually said that the program was a success, yet the Liberal government has been shutting it down. However, it still managed to spend $300 million and was still sending fax messages after 10 years. I will go back to my original question: Why did the parliamentary secretary for health vote to turn off the cameras at the health committee while we were investigating the $300 million spent on PrescribeIT? Why did she turn off the cameras?
Loses points more than most for Vague promise×3.5Loses points less than most for Off point
Tim Louis, Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the King’s Privy Council for Canada and Minister responsible for Canada-U.S. Trade, Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy (Intergovernmental Affairs and One Canadian Economy)
LiberalLib
“We stopped funding PrescribeIT because doctors and pharmacies were not using it. We should not spend money on programs that do not work.”
“Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Conservatives seem to think the government should continue funding programs that are not being used. A previous government worked with Infoway and our provincial and territorial partners to launch PrescribeIT, because that is what the provinces and territories said was needed. A decade later, it was clear that doctors and pharmacies were not using the system, so we ended funding for it. Our government will always work to ensure we are delivering programs for policies that are smarter, faster and more effective for all Canadians. That means, in health care, that it works for everyone.”
Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the Conservatives seem to think the government should continue funding programs that are not being used. A previous government worked with Infoway and our provincial and territorial partners to launch PrescribeIT, because that is what the provinces and territories said was needed. A decade later, it was clear that doctors and pharmacies were not using the system, so we ended funding for it. Our government will always work to ensure we are delivering programs for policies that are smarter, faster and more effective for all Canadians. That means, in health care, that it works for everyone.
