The minister\u2019s office confirmed to The Hill Times by email that it has begun the first part of the multi-phase review.<\/p>\n
Health Canada is \u201cactively\u201d looking for someone to conduct the third-party audit, which will be one aspect of the multi-part review, according to Michel\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n While PrescribeIT didn\u2019t see much success, Infoway\u2019s spending on travel, compensation, and other expenses caught the attention of MPs and media. The Globe and Mail reported on May 5<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Infoway\u2019s board of directors terminated Green\u2019s employment following his April 21<\/a> Health Committee appearance where he refused to answer questions about his compensation and didn\u2019t provide clear responses to others, leading some MPs to comment they were having to repeatedly ask the same questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The April 21 and May 5 meetings were dedicated to the PrescribeIT issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n The committee agreed to ask the OAG to investigate PrescribeIT. But Liberal members, using their new majority, blocked attempts from the Conservatives and Bloc Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois to have the committee continue to look into the matter, which would have included having Michel testify at the committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 18, Michel issued a statement on LinkedIn<\/a>, saying she is ordering a \u201cphased review\u201d of Infoway, consisting of three parts: an assessment of the organization\u2019s compliance with the terms and conditions of its contribution agreement with the federal government; a broader strategic review that will include examining the organization\u2019s funding model, program delivery, governance framework, executive leadership and compensation practices, and reporting mechanisms; and an \u201cindependent\u201d third-party audit. Michel said the review process will \u201ccommence immediately,\u201d and committed to publishing key findings and publicly outlining next steps.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Hill Times asked Michel\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019 question about why it did not ask the OAG to do this work.\u00a0<\/p>\n Third-party review \u2018not an audit,\u2019 says Conservative MP Dan Mazier<\/p>\n As far as Conservative MP and Health Committee member Dan Mazier (Riding Mountain, Man.) is concerned, Michel\u2019s promised review is \u201cnot an audit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just another coverup, another way to delay things to really get to the root cause [of the problem],\u201d said Mazier, who spoke to The Hill Times on June 26, when he was health critic.\u00a0<\/p>\n On June 30, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre (Battle River\u2014Crowfoot, Alta.) shuffled his shadow cabinet, moving Mazier into the role of critic for government transformation, public works, and procurement. Mazier\u2019s 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\u2014St. Paul, Man.) is the party\u2019s new health critic.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is a third-party audit? \u2026 Why those specific words? We have an auditor general. [Michel] could direct the auditor general to \u2026 do a full-scale audit of these folks,\u201d said Mazier on June 26.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Following Hogan\u2019s 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\u2014though she left the door open to a future investigation after Health Canada conducts its own review\u2014Mazier posted the letter on X and wrote<\/a>: \u201cI respect the Auditor General\u2019s 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\u2019s PrescribeIT failure in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n NDP MP Gord Johns (Courtenay\u2014Alberni, B.C.), his party\u2019s health critic, also said the OAG is the right office to conduct this probe.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Johns said. <\/p>\n \u201cMy question around this is, how much will this third-party audit additionally cost Canadian taxpayers on top of [Infoway\u2019s] spend already that is raising eyebrows and concerns of Canadians? Who will they actually be accountable to?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n No advance funding: Infoway will have to justify costs to get any money<\/p>\n Johns said Infoway should not receive any funding until a \u201cproper investigation\u201d is conducted into its use of public funds and the use of those funds can be justified.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michel\u2019s office told The Hill Times that \u201call funding is currently frozen,\u201d 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.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The 2026-27 main estimates<\/a> say that Infoway would have received $52-million this fiscal\u00a0year, but Michel said in the House of Commons on June 8<\/a> that the government was not going to provide that funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michel\u2019s office told\u00a0The Hill Times\u00a0that the government has committed to funding Infoway on a \u201creimbursement basis.\u201d<\/p>\n To explain what this means, the statement says, \u201cTypically, 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Conservative Party proposed on June 18 that Infoway should lose its independent status and be brought under Health Canada\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIs 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?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Mazier added that Health Canada could, \u201cthrough a transparent process\u201d subject to parliamentary scrutiny, hire a third-party contractor that could focus on offering digital tools to provinces, while respecting provinces\u2019 autonomy over health care.<\/p>\n Mazier noted that it\u2019s Infoway\u2019s job to \u201cdigitize health care,\u201d 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\u2019 House of Commons technology. At the time of the interview, Mazier said those documents were with the committee clerk\u2019s office where they were being converted to a supported format.\u00a0<\/p>\n All pan-Canadian health groups should be audited, says NDP\u2019s Gord Johns <\/p>\n
By entering your email address you consent to receive email from The Hill Times containing news, analysis, updates and offers. You may unsubscribe at any time. See our privacy policy<\/a>
Johns said he would like to see the OAG investigate all of the pan-Canadian health organizations, saying it\u2019s difficult to get answers about their operations because of their arm\u2019s-length status from government.\u00a0<\/p>\n When asked if he believes that Infoway should lose its independent status and be brought under Health Canada\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think that what we need is the auditor general to come in and do a full evaluation, and come back with recommendations,\u201d said Johns. <\/p>\n \u201cWe 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, \u2026 absolutely every dollar that\u2019s spent from the Canadian public deserves full scrutiny and transparency. These entities are set up to avoid that. That is not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n There are seven pan-Canadian health organizations: Infoway, Canada\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n tsanci@hilltimes.com<\/p>\n The Hill Times<\/p>\n \u00a0
\n <\/p>\n 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<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Auditor General Karen Hogan won\u2019t be conducting an audit into the circumstances of the terminated PrescribeIT program or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-527134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/568A0042_78-e1782997817155-1024x512.jpg\")
Conservative MP Dan Mazier, pictured, says Health Minister Marjorie Michel\u2019s announced review, including a third-party audit that won\u2019t be conducted by auditor general, is \u2018another coverup.\u2019 The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6L8A7775_2-e1782997956879-1024x512.jpg\")
\u2018How much will this third-party audit additionally cost Canadian taxpayers on top of [Infoway\u2019s] spend already that is raising eyebrows and concerns of Canadians?\u2019\u00a0says 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<\/p>\n
\n Get Today\u2019s Headlines Newsletter
\n Wake up to the day\u2019s top political and policy headlines. Weekday Mornings.
\n <\/p>\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/tessie-sanci.jpg\")
<\/p>\n