Health Committee on April 28th, 2026

[The Clerk of the Committee, Catherine Ngando Edimo]

Good afternoon.

Honourable committee members, I see a quorum.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(3)(a), as the clerk of the committee, I will preside over the election of the chair.

I must inform the members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk can't receive other types of motions, can't entertain points of order and can't participate in debates.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I'm ready to receive motions for the chair.

Yes, Mr. Mazier.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

I'd like to nominate Sukh Dhaliwal.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions?

I will now put the motion to the committee. It has been moved by Mr. Mazier that Mr. Dhaliwal be elected as chair of the committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Dhaliwal duly elected chair of the committee.

I invite Mr. Dhaliwal to take the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Good afternoon, everyone.

Mr. Mazier, thank you for nominating me, and thank you to all the honourable members for putting your trust in me and electing me as chair of this committee.

I have previously chaired committees on both sides of the aisle. People have come to me and made suggestions. I have taken them very seriously. My way of working as chair—and you can ask Tom Kmiec, Brad Redekopp and all the people I've worked with previously—is to be fair but very firm when I need to be firm. If you have any suggestions, you can come to me and tell me, and I will improve, because I'm also a human being.

When it comes to the health committee, health is non-partisan. Some of you are medical professionals or your spouses are medical professionals. I'm fortunate that both my daughters are physicians. One is a neonatologist and the other a family physician. As I have a business background, any time they come to me, they say, “Dad, health care is not politics. Health care is not business. It is a service.” In this committee, we are all here to serve Canadians, and that's the way we should move forward.

Thank you again, Mr. Mazier.

Now I will call the meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 31 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.

We recognize that we meet on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the Standing Orders.

Before we continue, I would ask all in-person participants to consult the guidelines written on the cards on the table. These measures are in place to help prevent audio and feedback incidents and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including the interpreters. You will also notice a QR code on the card, which links to a short awareness video.

I would like to remind participants of the following points.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking. At the bottom of your screen, you can select the appropriate channel for interpretation: floor, English or French.

As a reminder, all comments should be addressed through the chair.

For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the “raise hand” function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

This meeting was requested pursuant to Standing Order 106(4). The committee is meeting to discuss the committee's investigation of the PrescribeIT program.

I will now open the floor to members.

I have Mr. Mazier and then Madame Konanz.

Mr. Mazier, the floor is yours.

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

Thank you, Chair. Congratulations, and welcome to the health committee. It's good to know you have that background as well. My daughter is a pharmacist. It's funny and quite interesting that, when it comes to the discussions around health, we don't want to make it about politics.

Anyway, we are here today. To bring you up to speed a bit, Chair, and for the rest of the committee, at our last meeting we had witnesses from Canada Health Infoway, Health Canada and, of course, Telus Health.

In those discussions, the witnesses were giving conflicting information, if any information at all. It was quite a battle. Even the chair dived in with some of the witnesses, as far as having them answer the questions was concerned. One of the more concerning things that was brought out was the expenses. It was first reported in the media, basically, that $250 million was spent on PrescribeIT, but then we found out at committee that it was actually $300 million, and it's potentially ballooned up to $350 million.

With all of that and the remaining questions, I move:

That the committee: a) request that the Auditor General of Canada conduct an audit of PrescribeIT, including its costs, governance, termination, transition, and intellectual property arrangements;

b) invite the Minister of Health, officials from Health Canada, and the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada, to appear for at least two hours on PrescribeIT within two weeks of the adoption of this motion, or at the earliest opportunity.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Madame Konanz.

[Helena Konanz, Conservative, Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

Thank you, and congratulations, Chair.

Really, my colleague Mr. Mazier said it all. We're looking for information. It was $350 million, and we're not sure where it went. Let's get the experts in here. The witnesses we had before us weren't able to answer questions. We're here to represent our constituents and Canadians, so let's find out what we don't know—which seems to be a lot. As I said, let's get these guys in here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Madame Konanz.

We will go to Mr. Bailey.

Please, go ahead.

[Burton Bailey, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

Thank you, Chair. Congratulations.

The one thing I want to talk about briefly is that, with the new Senate bill coming, this committee will be doing a lot of work with IT. When we look at the performance of Telus, we need to get to the bottom of it when we start looking at integrating this in all the provinces right across Canada...ensure that we understand that Telus could be involved in it and that this technology could be used in other countries. I'd like to have a better understanding of where PrescribeIT ends up.

Thank you, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you, Mr. Bailey.

Are there any other speakers?

Ms. Chi, please go ahead.

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Congratulations. All of us around the table look forward to working with you. I'm looking forward to your guidance at our committee.

With that, I move to have the meeting in camera.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you. The meeting is in camera already.

I'm sorry; it is in public.

Is it the will of the committee to go in camera?

[Dan Mazier, Conservative, Riding Mountain, MB]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

I'm sorry. There is a hand up.

We'll go to Mr. Blanchette-Joncas, please.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

The vote is now called.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

The vote is to meet in camera.

There cannot be any points of order when a vote is called.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I understand, but why announce the vote without giving—

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Okay, I'll still give you the floor.

Please, go ahead.

[Maxime Blanchette-Joncas, Bloc, Rimouski—La Matapédia, QC]

I just want my colleague to explain why she's asking that we continue the meeting in camera.

[Maggie Chi, Liberal, Don Valley North, ON]

It's not a debate, sir.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

That's not the subject.

I will ask the clerk to take the vote, please.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)

We will go in camera.

The meeting is suspended.

[Proceedings continue in camera]