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Health

During question period on health, Conservatives pressed the government about Canada Health Infoway’s PrescribeIT electronic prescription program, saying $300 million was spent on a project that did not deliver and that Liberal members have blocked health committee meetings for weeks, preventing witnesses from appearing and ordered documents from being produced. They asked that the committee be allowed to investigate and questioned why funding had continued. The Minister of Health said governance issues had been identified at Canada Health Infoway, that the CEO had left and an acting director was in place, that funding to the agency had been halted, and that a review of the agency’s mandate and leadership would report by the end of the summer. She also said Conservatives were blocking a committee study on AIDS, calling it a national crisis, particularly in Manitoba. A Liberal minister’s answer near the end shifted to the economy, saying Conservatives focus only on bad economic news while ignoring figures such as 88,000 new jobs.Written by AI from the debate. Updated .

Official text

4 statements

Marjorie Michel

Liberal
“Canada Health Infoway had leadership problems. We took action. The CEO left, and there is a temporary director. We are reviewing the agency's goals to fix the problems.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 46 of 100

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I will say it again. There were governance issues with Canada Health Infoway. Someone from the federal government sits on the board of directors, and the necessary measures were taken. The CEO has left, and we have an acting director right now. The people involved are currently reviewing the mandates together to see how we can do a better job of solving the governance issues.

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Marjorie Michel

Liberal
“Conservatives are blocking a health committee study on AIDS, even though this is a national crisis, especially in Manitoba. Also, the board is reviewing its leadership and rules and will report back by the end of the summer.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

    Relevance 22 of 100

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat my answer, but first, I would like to talk about the Standing Committee on Health’s study on AIDS, which the Conservatives are blocking. I just want to tell them that there is a national crisis, particularly in Manitoba. That is the first thing I would say. The second thing I would say is that, yes, the board is reviewing the governance and the mandate. It will do so and report back by the end of the summer.

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Marjorie Michel

Liberal
“We stopped funding Canada Health Infoway because it was not doing its job properly and we are careful with tax dollars. However, our health care system still needs to modernize, and the group did do good work with tools like AI.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question. The first thing I have to say is that, in the Canadian government, we are careful with every dollar we spend. That is why, when we realized that Canada Health Infoway was not completely fulfilling its mission, we decided to halt funding. That is the first thing. However, it is also important to know that the Canadian health care system needs to be modernized, and Canada Health Infoway, despite its governance issues, did a good job. The AI scribe program has really had a lot of—

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Steven MacKinnon

Liberal
“Conservatives only talk about bad economic news and blame Canada for it. They ignore good news, like 88,000 new jobs.”

  • Government answer in Question Period

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  • Government answer in Question Period

    Signal 31 of 100

    Much of this statement went to praise, blame, greetings, routine procedure or general stories rather than reasons, requests or specific points.

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Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, these questions, written by the Leader of the Opposition, are not really convincing anyone. What is convincing people is this attitude coming from the Conservative benches that what is a headwind and a challenge for Canada ought to be blamed on Canada. The “blame Canada brigade”, as people are calling them, skips in here at any hint of bad news for the Canadian economy, but when we remind them about 88,000 new jobs, they go into hiding. Hooray for Canada.

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