Evidence of meeting #33 for Health in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was program.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
Canada Health Infoway is transparent. We do public reporting quarterly to Health Canada.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sukh Dhaliwal
Honourable member, your time is up. Thank you.
Now we will go to Madam Konanz for five minutes.
Please go ahead.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Dr. Vaughan, can you resubmit those minutes without the redaction?
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Thank you. I look forward to seeing that.
Dr. Vaughan, Infoway is funded by taxpayers but calls itself a non-profit. You said you look at comparables for salaries. Can you name one other federally funded not-for-profit in Canada that pays its CEO nearly $900,000 a year, as you did Mr. Green?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
There are many hospital sectors that are not-for-profit, and they also have comparable—
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Okay. If you would actually table a few of those examples for us, that would be great, because you must have done your homework when you decided to pay him $900,000.
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
We'll provide whatever information the committee asks.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Dr. Vaughan, did Mr. Green sign a non-disclosure agreement prior to his termination as a CEO of Infoway?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
As I indicated in answering an earlier question, that is currently in discussion, and there has been no discussion about non-disclosure.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Who are you actually discussing that with?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
As anyone who is familiar with HR knows, discussions of situations like this take place between lawyers at the end of the day.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Does Canada Health Infoway require all departing employees to sign a non-disclosure agreement after their departure?
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
What metrics, Dr. Vaughan, did the Infoway board use to determine Mr. Green's performance bonus of over $250,000 last year, if you were planning a change, as you said you were?
You said that a change was in discussion. What were the metrics for giving him a $215,000 bonus?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
A performance bonus based on achievement of corporate objectives is the standard for CEO remuneration.
Remember—
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
He was successful, then. Last year, you felt he was on the road to success for Canadians.
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
Infoway does more than just one program. In the totality of the corporate objectives, the achievement was such that he did succeed last year.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
He succeeded last year, but he did so poorly this year that he was fired.
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
Going forward, the requirements of the organization to meet its new priorities with connected care required us to look at that. It wasn't a decision based on last year's performance.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
Was it a decision made after our last committee meeting?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
It was a decision that was in discussion prior to that. The focus on the CEO was the trigger.
Conservative
Helena Konanz Conservative Similkameen—South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC
The focus was on the CEO who made over a $200,000 bonus last year but was....
I think we'll move on.
Dr. Vaughan, this morning The Globe and Mail reported that in just three years, Canada Health Infoway spent over $23 million on third party consultants. These include lobbying firms and multinational IT companies.
Infoway has 175 employees, so why does a taxpayer-funded organization need to hire lobbyists and consultants to outsource the work it was paid to do by the government?
Board Chair, Canada Health Infoway
It is not uncommon for health care organizations to look at non-permanent, time-bound resources to be outsourced. That's not unusual, and tendered contracts are a part of that process.