Ottawa, ON – Dan Mazier, Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, issued the following statement after reports that the Liberals are withholding $50 million in funding from Canada Health Infoway until the organization addresses its mismanagement:
“After weeks of pressure from Conservatives at the health committee, the Liberals have been forced to put Canada Health Infoway’s funding on hold after their disastrous $300 million PrescribeIT failure. After being handed hundreds of millions in taxpayer money by the Liberals, Canada Health Infoway failed to deliver, with PrescribeIT seeing less than five percent of prescriptions going through the program before it was shut down.
“The same Liberals who signed the cheques and looked the other way, now admit they failed to oversee Canada Health Infoway. Canadians deserve to know how this happened, where their money went and why the government kept funding an organization that was clearly failing. Unfortunately, Canada Health Infoway is still refusing to hand over PrescribeIT documents that the health committee ordered them to produce.
“If Canada Health Infoway cannot figure out how to send files to the health committee, Canadians should be asking why this organization should be trusted with another dollar of public money, let alone the future of Canada’s health data infrastructure.
“Liberal MPs have spent months blocking the health committee from investigating PrescribeIT. They shut off committee cameras, adjourned meetings, denied emergency meeting requests and blocked the Health Minister from testifying. Instead of blocking the PrescribeIT investigation, Liberals should start letting the health committee do its job.
“Conservatives will not stop until Canadians know the full truth about the $300 million PrescribeIT failure and until those responsible are held accountable.”