Health Committee on May 5th, 2026

[Peter Vaughan]

The challenges were really around adoption. When we look at the provinces and territories where there was good uptake, the adoption was around 27%. It really depended on policy levers.

That is the international lesson. The takeaway from all of this is that enablement, in and of itself, is not sufficient. We need either mandates or incentives. We went through exactly the same thing, which many will recall from 20 years ago, on electronic medical record adoption. Now we have an adoption rate of 95% or more, but that took mandates and incentives to occur.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

Thank you.

My next question is for Telus. From Telus's perspective, what specific efforts were made to make PrescribeIT more appealing and practical in enabling physicians, nurse practitioners and other prescribers to use electronic medical records in their day-to-day work?

[Mohamed El-Demerdash]

Thank you for the question.

From Telus Health's perspective, it's important to note, as I mentioned earlier, that our main responsibility in this case was to deliver the technology, the managed service and the highway.

I will add, though, to your question, that, as we too saw that the adoption was not high—through the fact that the number of transactions that were going through this highway was much lower than expected—we convened in 2021 a clinical advisory board, which is something we do to assess our products, in general, in the market. This was an advisory board that comprised those prescribers, those individuals. We got their feedback as to why the adoption, from their perspective, was not as high as expected. We took that feedback from them and provided it to Canada Health Infoway, as an opportunity to provide improvements to the standards that were put in place.

[Sonia Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton South, ON]

How often did Telus update, modify and modernize the product?

[Mohamed El-Demerdash]

We implemented every request that came through and was approved from Canada Health Infoway. There were approximately 59 change requests that came through over the life of the program, which we implemented and executed to the specifications that were put to us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Thank you. Your time is up at exactly six minutes.

We will go to the honourable member of Parliament Mr. Blanchette-Joncas, for six minutes. Please go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Dr. Vaughn, would you agree that when you invest nearly $300 million in a program whose adoption rate is less than 5%, the program is a failure? Yes or no?

[Peter Vaughan]

The mandate that we fulfilled was the technical delivery of that program. The adoption of that and those levers are for the provinces and territories to implement.

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

I'd like a yes or no answer. The adoption rate is less than 5%. What was the program's objective?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Hold on just one second, please. Could we have only one member speaking at a time? We should respect their time.

It's back to you, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.

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

Is the Canada Health Infoway program a failure or a success?

[Peter Vaughan]

Canada Health Infoway delivered on its mandate, and, as we've heard, it works. If you would characterize it as a failure, it's a collective failure: It's a collective failure of the health systems to adopt and implement through mandates and incentives, which is the lesson from every international example.

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

This year, the adoption rate was 0.5% in Quebec, versus 73% in Ontario. Why is that?

[Peter Vaughan]

The adoption is in the area of, and is the responsibility of, provinces and territories. In the province of Quebec there was a very successful pilot.

The provinces and territories have various other priorities that I can speak to, and they're in different places. Some were more receptive than others at that particular time, and so they need to have the opportunity going forward. That's why we're developing open standards, to allow them to implement...based on their particular needs.

The provinces and territories are responsible for the adoption. We can do only so much. We can lead the horse to water, but we can't make him.... You know how the rest of it goes.

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

You coordinated the implementation of a program to send prescription information electronically. The first program was created in 2017. Do you know when Quebec decided to move forward with the program? In 2023. I would like you, as the board chair, to explain why it took Quebec six years.

Why were you not able to convince a province to join the program if it was so great?

[Peter Vaughan]

I might ask my colleague to....

[Tania Ensor]

The discussions with Quebec were ongoing. Because of the unique situation that Quebec had with its systems and some of the organizational offerings that they had, they wanted to ensure that they had a system that worked with their specific and unique needs. We worked with Quebec very, very closely, and we made a number of modifications to the system to allow for their participation.

We did have an agreement with them that we negotiated. It went through Quebec's complex approval process. It was approved eventually. Then there was a reorganization with Santé Québec, so there were some significant delays.

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

All right.

Six years is a long time. Do you think Quebeckers got their money's worth? It took the province six years to adopt a program that ended up being used 0.5% of the time. You're telling me that your program is a success. It's such a success that it's being eliminated at the end of the month.

Since the program is a success, tell me what the original objective was.

[Peter Vaughan]

The PrescribeIT program is a technological success, and it delivered a pan-Canadian highway, to use that analogy. The provinces and territories have to address the adoption, and they have opportunities and levers like mandates and incentives. The role of Canada Infoway is as an enabler. We can develop the tools.

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

Dr. Vaughn, do you think your organization was always transparent in everything it did and communicated?

[Peter Vaughan]

Yes, very much so. We have provided much information on our website, and we've provided all information to the committee that's been requested.

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

All right.

I have here the minutes from your December 11, 2025 meeting. They're all redacted. The second page is redacted, and so is the third page. We can't see what was said. Is that transparent? You received $300 million in public money, and you sent us redacted meeting minutes.

To your mind, is that a transparent use of Quebeckers' and Canadians' tax dollars?

[Peter Vaughan]

There are some elements, perhaps, that are not pertinent to the questions that are being asked for the committee, and those would be.

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

You were given public money to spend, but you don't want the public to know what you did with the money you were given.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sukh Dhaliwal]

Time is up.

Dr. Vaughan, you can give a short answer, please.