Auditor General Karen Hogan won’t be conducting an audit into the circumstances of the terminated PrescribeIT program or into the financial practices of Canada Health Infoway, which spent nearly $300-million on the technology. Her office told The Hill Times that Health Minister Marjorie Michel did not ask them to investigate, and that conducting a review would duplicate work that’s expected to happen in a third-party audit.

Following a request from the House Health Committee that the federal Office of the Auditor General (OAG) investigate the digital prescription service, Hogan’s office told The Hill Times by email that it has decided not to go ahead “at this time” in light of Michel’s (Papineau, Que.) recent decision to order an external review. 

“A performance audit by the OAG would be duplicative and therefore of limited added value for parliamentarians and Canadians,” said the statement on June 30. 

The response said the OAG informed the Health Committee of the decision. It also said that Michel did not ask the auditor general to conduct the third-party audit promised in June 18 announcement by the minister, who said she is launching a multi-phase review of Infoway, an independent, not-for-profit organization that is fully funded by the federal government. 

The minister’s office confirmed to The Hill Times by email that it has begun the first part of the multi-phase review.

Health Canada is “actively” looking for someone to conduct the third-party audit, which will be one aspect of the multi-part review, according to Michel’s office.

PrescribeIT was an e-prescription service facilitated by Infoway, which promotes the use of digital health tools. The program was cancelled earlier this year due to low participation rates from health-care providers. Though more than $250-million had been spent on the program, as per reporting from The Globe and Mail, the government estimated that fewer than five per cent of prescriptions were sent using PrescribeIT, with fax and paper prescriptions continuing to dominate. 

While PrescribeIT didn’t see much success, Infoway’s spending on travel, compensation, and other expenses caught the attention of MPs and media. The Globe and Mail reported on May 5 that the organization spent more than $400,000 on executive travel and $23-million in contracts to consultants in under three years, and that now-former CEO Michael Green was making nearly $900,000 per year. 

Infoway’s board of directors terminated Green’s employment following his April 21 Health Committee appearance where he refused to answer questions about his compensation and didn’t provide clear responses to others, leading some MPs to comment they were having to repeatedly ask the same questions. 

The April 21 and May 5 meetings were dedicated to the PrescribeIT issue. 

The committee agreed to ask the OAG to investigate PrescribeIT. But Liberal members, using their new majority, blocked attempts from the Conservatives and Bloc Québécois to have the committee continue to look into the matter, which would have included having Michel testify at the committee. 

Conservative MP Dan Mazier, pictured, says Health Minister Marjorie Michel’s announced review, including a third-party audit that won’t be conducted by auditor general, is ‘another coverup.’ The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

On June 18, Michel issued a statement on LinkedIn, saying she is ordering a “phased review” of Infoway, consisting of three parts: an assessment of the organization’s compliance with the terms and conditions of its contribution agreement with the federal government; a broader strategic review that will include examining the organization’s funding model, program delivery, governance framework, executive leadership and compensation practices, and reporting mechanisms; and an “independent” third-party audit. Michel said the review process will “commence immediately,” and committed to publishing key findings and publicly outlining next steps. 

The Hill Times asked Michel’s office for an interview, but the request was declined. Her office said by email that Health Canada has begun the first part of the review focusing on Infoway’s compliance with its contribution agreement among other issues, and that the department is looking for someone who can do the third-party audit. It did not respond to The Hill Times’ question about why it did not ask the OAG to do this work. 

Third-party review ‘not an audit,’ says Conservative MP Dan Mazier

As far as Conservative MP and Health Committee member Dan Mazier (Riding Mountain, Man.) is concerned, Michel’s promised review is “not an audit.” 

“It’s just another coverup, another way to delay things to really get to the root cause [of the problem],” said Mazier, who spoke to The Hill Times on June 26, when he was health critic. 

On June 30, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River—Crowfoot, Alta.) shuffled his shadow cabinet, moving Mazier into the role of critic for government transformation, public works, and procurement. Mazier’s office confirmed to The Hill Times that the MP will continue in his new role to focus on the problems surrounding Infoway. MP Raquel Dancho (Kildonan—St. Paul, Man.) is the party’s new health critic. 

“What is a third-party audit? … Why those specific words? We have an auditor general. [Michel] could direct the auditor general to … do a full-scale audit of these folks,” said Mazier on June 26.  

Following Hogan’s June 30 letter to Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal (Surrey Newton, B.C.), the House Health Committee chair, advising the committee that she is not pursuing an audit—though she left the door open to a future investigation after Health Canada conducts its own review—Mazier posted the letter on X and wrote: “I respect the Auditor General’s Office, but I strongly disagree with this decision on PrescribeIT. A review initiated by the Liberal government is not a substitute for an independent audit by the auditor general, especially when Health Canada is the department that funded Canada Health Infoway’s PrescribeIT failure in the first place.”

NDP MP Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, B.C.), his party’s health critic, also said the OAG is the right office to conduct this probe. 

‘How much will this third-party audit additionally cost Canadian taxpayers on top of [Infoway’s] spend already that is raising eyebrows and concerns of Canadians?’ says NDP health critic Gord Johns about the external third-party audit that is being planned by Health Canada. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

“The auditor general already works for Parliament and has a budget for this kind of work with paid staff who are experts in uncovering irregularities and breaches of public trust,” Johns said.

“My question around this is, how much will this third-party audit additionally cost Canadian taxpayers on top of [Infoway’s] spend already that is raising eyebrows and concerns of Canadians? Who will they actually be accountable to?” 

No advance funding: Infoway will have to justify costs to get any money

Johns said Infoway should not receive any funding until a “proper investigation” is conducted into its use of public funds and the use of those funds can be justified. 

Michel’s office told The Hill Times that “all funding is currently frozen,” and that the federal government does not currently have a signed contribution agreement with the organization, and one is not being planned at this stage.   

The 2026-27 main estimates say that Infoway would have received $52-million this fiscal year, but Michel said in the House of Commons on June 8 that the government was not going to provide that funding. 

Michel’s office told The Hill Times that the government has committed to funding Infoway on a “reimbursement basis.”

To explain what this means, the statement says, “Typically, the government provides advance grants to non-profit organizations. In this case, Infoway needs to cover costs upfront and demonstrate [they are meeting] performance indicators, [and provide] the rationale, and value of the expenditures. If they meet established criteria, they would then be reimbursed.” 

The Conservative Party proposed on June 18 that Infoway should lose its independent status and be brought under Health Canada’s management where it would be subject to parliamentary processes and scrutiny. But Mazier, in speaking with The Hill Times on June 26, said he wonders if the organization is needed at all. 

“Is there a need for an entity like this to digitize our health care system, or [has] the health care system moved on without the government? Everybody else has, so why is health care any different?” he said.

Mazier added that Health Canada could, “through a transparent process” subject to parliamentary scrutiny, hire a third-party contractor that could focus on offering digital tools to provinces, while respecting provinces’ autonomy over health care.

Mazier noted that it’s Infoway’s job to “digitize health care,” but when the organization digitally sent thousands of pages of documents to the Health Committee in response to a request, they came in a format that is not supported by MPs’ House of Commons technology. At the time of the interview, Mazier said those documents were with the committee clerk’s office where they were being converted to a supported format. 

All pan-Canadian health groups should be audited, says NDP’s Gord Johns


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Johns said he would like to see the OAG investigate all of the pan-Canadian health organizations, saying it’s difficult to get answers about their operations because of their arm’s-length status from government. 

When asked if he believes that Infoway should lose its independent status and be brought under Health Canada’s oversight, as the Conservatives have suggested, Johns said he would like to see what the OAG would recommend if it were to go ahead with a review. 

“I think that what we need is the auditor general to come in and do a full evaluation, and come back with recommendations,” said Johns.

“We want experts and evidence-generated policy to lead and guide us in how we respond to health care delivery in this country. It should not be politicians leading on that. However, … absolutely every dollar that’s spent from the Canadian public deserves full scrutiny and transparency. These entities are set up to avoid that. That is not acceptable.”

There are seven pan-Canadian health organizations: Infoway, Canada’s Drug Agency, Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, Canadian Institute for Health Information, Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Healthcare Excellence Canada, and the Mental Health Commission of Canada. 

tsanci@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times

 

Tessie Sanci is a deputy editor at The Hill Times, where she focuses on federal health policy. She was previously the executive editor of Hill Times Health, and The Lobby Monitor, which are also a part of Hill Times Publishing. See all stories BY TESSIE SANCI