Liberals won't explain why health committee was moved behind closed doors

OTTAWA — Liberal members of the House of Commons committee on health did not provide an explanation on Wednesday for why they moved debate behind closed doors during a meeting on Tuesday.

The committee was meeting to discuss PrescribeIT, a program that was launched in 2017 to provide an electronic prescription service for pharmacists and doctors, overseen by Canada Health Infoway, a non-profit funded by the federal government.

The program was cancelled this year, with operations set to end on May 29, due to a slow uptick in the adoption of the product.

Conservative health critic Dan Mazier has said the program began with a $40-million budget but has since ballooned to $300 million over the past decade.

This week, Conservatives called for the auditor general to investigate the program.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Mazier moved a motion for the committee to acquire documents and financial information from Canada Health Infoway and Telus Health on the PrescribeIT program.

Parliamentary Secretary of Health Maggie Chi then moved to hold the meeting in-camera. A vote followed, with no explanation as to why the debate needed to be shielded from the public.

The Liberals’ recently acquired majority in the House of Commons means they now have the most seats in committees, which means Tuesday’s health committee vote carried.

On their way into a caucus meeting on Wednesday morning, Liberal MP Doug Eyolfson and Liberal MP Sonia Sidhu, both members of the committee, did not respond to reporters’ questions about the matter.

Conservative members of the committee expressed their frustration on Wednesday morning.

“It was astounding, it was awful, I think if that’s what Mark Carney plans to do with his newfound majority, I think Canadians should be really, really distressed,” said Conservative MP Matt Strauss.

Conservative MP Burton Bailey said he was “very disgusted” when asked about the issue.

Mazier told reporters that they should direct their questions to the Liberals on what this means for the status of a potential investigation into the program.

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon pushed back on the notion that his party is shutting down debate, noting that committees are masters of their own agendas.

“Well, I reject the premise,” he told reporters. “No one’s shutting down debate.”

“We’re having lots of debate every day on a very ambitious legislative agenda,” he added.

National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.