Thank you, Chair.
I want to raise, I think it has to be said again.... I imagine the witnesses are still online.
The witnesses were invited here by the Liberals, who just voted against hearing from the witnesses. I'm cringing. I'm scandalized. It hurt to watch.
I want to extend to each of those witnesses.... You can find my parliamentary email if you google “Matt Strauss MP.” I would like to hear from each of you what you had to say today.
It's as though you've been invited for dinner and then told there's no dinner. That was hard to watch. I'm really sorry that that happened to each of them.
With that, Chair, I'd like to raise a question of privilege on a related matter. Yesterday, during question period, the Minister of Health was asked about the dismissal of Michael Green, the former CEO of Canada Health Infoway. The minister stated, “I spoke to the board of directors, and they took the necessary steps.” The minister told the House of Commons that she personally intervened with Infoway's board and that Mr. Green's firing was the result of that intervention.
On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, this committee heard directly from Dr. Peter Vaughan, the chair of Canada Health Infoway's board of directors. Dr. Vaughan was asked whether the current federal health minister had ever personally raised concerns with him or the board about the $300 million spent on PrescribeIT. Dr. Vaughan's answer was clear. He said no. In fact, he stated, “The answer is no.”
These statements cannot both be true. Either the Minister of Health told the House of Commons yesterday that she had spoken to the board when she had not, or the chair of Canada Health Infoway told this committee on Tuesday that the minister had never raised concerns when she had.
The House of Commons and its committees depend entirely on receiving truthful information from ministers and witnesses. When contradictory statements are made to the House and to a committee within days of each other, members of Parliament cannot do their job, and Canadians cannot get the truth.
I will draw the committee's attention to House of Commons Procedure and Practice, fourth edition, chapter 3, which confirms that the “provision of deliberately misleading information to the House” by a minister has frequently been raised as a matter of privilege. It also sets out a three-part test. The statement must have been misleading, the person must have known it was incorrect, and they must have intended to mislead.
These two statements—the minister's claim that she had spoken to the board and the chair's testimony that she had not—cannot both be true. At least one of them was knowingly false. I therefore move that this committee report to the House that the testimony of Dr. Peter Vaughan before the Standing Committee on Health on Tuesday and the statements of the Minister of Health in the House of Commons yesterday are directly contradictory, that Parliament has been misled, and that this matter constitutes a breach of privilege.
Thank you, Chair.