QUESTION PERIOD — Health
PrescribeIT
June 2, 2026
Government leader, welcome back. It’s great to see your voice is even more powerful than usual.
Canadians were promised, government leader, that PrescribeIT would modernize our health care system and finally move providers beyond the outdated fax machines, but, honourable colleagues, after nearly a decade and almost $300 million in taxpayer funding, the program handled less than 5% of prescriptions before being shut down. Even more concerning is the fact that, despite executive compensation approaching $900,000 annually, the government-funded NGO responsible for the program could not clearly explain to Parliament why the program failed or why Canadians received so little value.
Government leader, can the government explain to Canadians why they received so little value for their $300-million investment into this particular company PrescribeIT?
Thank you for your kind words. I am now looking forward to having a strong voice in the Senate, Senator Housakos. Thank you very much.
On your question, the health minister was here a few weeks ago, and I think that the issue was raised at that time on how the government is looking forward as far as health concerns and the work of the government with the provinces concerning those important issues. The government is committed to working with all the provinces, and we are certainly looking forward to receiving a return on the investment, because we are dealing with taxpayers’ money.
On every issue, including health, IT and everything else, the government is looking forward to making sure that we are doing proper investment and that we get services for our investment.
That is precisely the problem, Senator Moreau. It is not the first time that we’ve had problems with subcontracting technological companies. We had the ArriveCAN application, which became a terrible scandal, costing $900 million of taxpayers’ funds, and to this day, we still don’t have a clear answer. Your government has had a pattern of doing this with digital companies.
Is your government’s plan to invest in new digital health and IT initiatives —
I’m sorry, Senator Housakos, but the 30 seconds have expired.
The fact is that the government is dealing with IT — I know that it has been a problem. I was a member of the Quebec government, and we had the same issue with IT companies. That being said, it is the duty of the government to ensure they get what they need from an IT company as well. It’s an issue, but the government is committed to doing the best it can to make sure that Canadian taxpayers have what they need for their —
