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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

8 statements

Dan Mazier

Conservative

Linked statement

“Liberal MPs are blocking our committee from investigating $300 million spent on an electronic prescription program. They are shutting down meetings and stopping the health minister from speaking. I want them to allow a full investigation.”

  • A repeated line

    “If the Liberals have nothing to hide.”

    Said 3 times by 2 members since April 27.

    Every time it was said
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, the Liberals on the health committee are blocking an investigation into the $300-million PrescribeIT scandal. For over a month, they have stopped the committee from holding any new meetings to get answers. They have shut down meetings. They have turned off committee cameras. They have blocked the health minister from testifying. Now, in a disgusting political stunt, they are using Canadians suffering with HIV as an excuse to bury the truth. If the Liberals have nothing to hide, will they come clean today and allow a full investigation into the PrescribeIT $300-million scandal?

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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

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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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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Helena Konanz

Conservative
“The government wasted 300 million dollars on a failed health project. Liberals keep blocking our efforts to find out what happened. I want the minister to stop this and let us question the people involved.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, despite handing 300 million tax dollars over to Canada Health Infoway for the government’s failed PrescribeIT project, we can see that the Liberals have no interest in finding out why or how this money was wasted. The Liberals have voted down every attempt to get the answers. The Conservatives have been clear. We will work through the summer to get to the bottom of this. Canadians want to hear the minister and the former CEO provide testimony. Will the minister tell her Liberal colleagues to end their obstruction and get to the bottom of this scandal?

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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

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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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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Matt Strauss

Conservative
“Canada Health Infoway has wasted one billion dollars of public money and refuses to share documents with our committee. How long will the review of this group take, and how much will it cost? The minister should stop giving them 50 million dollars a year right now.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, Canada Health Infoway blew $300 million of taxpayer money on PrescribeIT. They have blown $1 billion over 10 years with nothing tangible to show for it. For six weeks, they have failed to produce the documents the health committee has ordered them to produce. The health minister now says this totally dysfunctional organization will undergo a mandate review. Can she tell us how long the review will take and how much money the review will cost? Why does she not take the obvious decision today and pull their $50 million of yearly funding now?

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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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Burton Bailey

Conservative
“The Liberals must stop blocking the health committee. They are covering up 300 million dollars wasted on a failed prescription program that enriched their friends. Canadians want answers about what they are hiding.”
Official Hansard

Mr. Speaker, it is week eight of the Liberals’ obstruction at the health committee. They are desperately covering up the $300-million PrescribeIT scandal and the hundreds of millions wasted on a failed program that made Liberal insiders rich and did not fill prescriptions. Angry Canadians are calling out the Liberals and asking them to stop the obstruction, but apparently they are more afraid of getting yelled at by the Prime Minister again. The Liberals must end this two-month cover-up so that the Conservatives can get the answers Canadians deserve. What are the Liberals hiding?

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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

    Relevance 0 of 100

    None of this answer addressed the specific question that was asked.

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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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