Thank you, Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for coming here today.
I'd like to follow up on Dr. Strauss's comments about PrescribeIT.
It's quite frustrating, actually. I don't know if the witnesses are aware that we discussed the program here last Tuesday. We had the CEO of Canada Health Infoway here, and he went about not answering any of our questions. Even the chair got into it, trying to get information about what was spent and where the money went. I am a Canadian taxpayer. I think everybody was quite shocked at how hesitant they were to reveal where the $300 million went.
This was $300 million for a program that went to a volunteer organization. It was just to “axe the fax” and try to get some streamlining going. They had nine years to figure it out. Then they turned around at the very end of it—Health Canada and Canada Health Infoway—and decided they were going to start charging pharmacies because the money was up. The government, I guess, and Health Canada had had enough, so they turned around and started charging you guys, which is absolutely insane. That $300 million has gone away. It is a program that didn't work.
For that reason, I would like to move to resume debate on my motion for the production of documents about PrescribeIT.