Health Committee on May 5th, 2026

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

Dr. Vaughan, health comes under the jurisdiction of Quebec and the provinces. We manage the program, so we should have had our share of the funds allocated to this program, which manages health care. Perhaps we could have better integrated it into our structure, which is different from that of the other provinces.

[Peter Vaughan]

In a federated health model, when Canadians move across the country and their health needs move with them, as in other jurisdictions, no matter what province or territory they come from, they need to have that information follow them. What PrescribeIT was trying to do—and did do, in fact—was deliver that solution.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Dr. Strauss for five minutes. Please go ahead.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Dr. Vaughan, do board members at Canada Health Infoway receive any sort of compensation?

[Peter Vaughan]

They have a per diem for board meetings. The board chair has an annual retainer, and the committee chairs as well.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

What is your annual compensation?

[Peter Vaughan]

My annual retainer is $14,500.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

I noticed that Dr. Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario Liberal health minister, was on the board. Who appointed him?

[Peter Vaughan]

Dr. Hoskins was part of an independent director search. He was recruited as part of an independent search.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

The board, under your leadership, appointed him.

[Peter Vaughan]

He was appointed as an independent member from Ontario.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Who appointed you?

[Peter Vaughan]

I was appointed by the deputy minister of health in 2017.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

The federal Liberal health minister appointed you, and then under your leadership, you appointed an Ontario Liberal health minister. It just seems like the ice cream licking itself a little bit.

Are there any other Liberal insiders on the board currently, or were there any in the past?

[Peter Vaughan]

I couldn't answer. I don't know. We don't discuss the political leanings.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you.

Dr. Hoskins, the former Liberal minister, is a partner at Maverix Private Equity. I believe he was a partner at that health equity firm while he served on the board. What sort of ethics screen did he go through to ensure that Canada Health Infoway wasn't giving contracts to members of his portfolio?

[Peter Vaughan]

It's a great question.

Canada Health Infoway has conflict of interest guidelines and policy. In every board meeting, members must declare if there's any conflict, and they have to abstain from that.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

There was no particular screening pertaining to Maverix Private Equity. It would have been incumbent on Dr. Hoskins at any point to say that there was a conflict. Canada Health Infoway didn't suss that out.

[Peter Vaughan]

That is correct.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

With regard to consulting contracts and others that Canada Health Infoway awarded, were any of them sole-sourced?

[Peter Vaughan]

As I recall, we had a contract with PwC, which had a previous vendor of record tendered process. That's the only one that I can recall.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Okay. Could you perform some sort of back-end look to see if there were other sole-sourced contracts and table them with us if there have been?

[Peter Vaughan]

I'm not aware of any other.

[Matt Strauss, Conservative, Kitchener South—Hespeler, ON]

Thank you, sir.

What did Michael Green deliver tangibly to the taxpayers who paid his salary to justify his performance bonus last year?

[Peter Vaughan]

There are many corporate objectives. We can articulate them and give you that information, and last year, he achieved all of them. The organization achieved them. PrescribeIT did fulfill its mandate, notwithstanding the challenges around adoption.