Tories accuse Liberals of shutting down public debate in parliamentary committees

He added that once the committee meetings were moved in camera, committee members were barred from speaking publicly about what happened behind closed doors.

“It’s going to make it more difficult for us to be able to bring that accountability to bear and that’s a choice that Liberals have made,” Barrett said.

Tory health critic Dan Mazier has called on the health committee to ask the auditor general to investigate a program called PrescribeIT that’s set to be scrapped next month.

The $300-million program was supposed to modernize doctors’ offices and phase out things like fax machines, but reports suggest it’s barely being used.

Mazier said he wanted answers.

“We were going to ask the auditor general to come in and do an investigation and Liberal Maggie Chi voted to shut down the cameras,” he said.

The recording of the health committee meeting shows that Bloc Québécois member Maxime Blanchette-Joncas tried to ask Chi why she was voting to move the meeting in camera.

The Liberal chair said the question wasn’t allowed because members already had been asked to vote on Chi’s request to move the meeting behind closed doors.

Chi has not responded to an email requesting more information.

Liberal members of the health committee refused to answer reporters’ questions about the move on their way into the weekly caucus meeting Wednesday.

Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon shrugged off the questions, saying committees are “masters of their own agenda.”

“No one’s shutting down debate,” he said. “We’re having lots of debate every day on a very ambitious legislative agenda.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2026.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

Tories accuse Liberals of shutting down public debate in parliamentary committees

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