‘It was done by the book’, says health minister on digital transition

Quebec Health Minister Sonia Belanger responds to the Opposition during question period at the legislature in Quebec City, Wednesday, May 6, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

The CAQ government insists that the contract awarded to the US firm Epic for the controversial Digital Health Record (DSN) was awarded ‘by the book,’ even though the process is currently under investigation.

It was Health Minister Sonia Bélanger who defended the tender process on Thursday, despite the investigation launched by the Public Procurement Authority (AMP).

The first tender in 2022 was cancelled, and an official had a vested interest in Epic winning the second tender in 2023, Liberal MNA Monsef Derraji suggested on Tuesday, citing information from several sources.

An “investigation file has been opened,” and “checks are underway,” the AMP subsequently confirmed.

“I am comfortable with the choice of supplier,” Bélanger stated during a press scrum on Thursday morning before Question Time.

“It was done by the book,” she argued. “So there was a whole committee that looked into this. Many doctors were involved in the choice of supplier. It was the Ministry of Health, two and a half years ago, that assessed all of this.”

She was keen to point out, however: “I wasn’t there at the time (of the award) of the contract.”

In fact, it was her predecessor, Christian Dubé, who was then at the helm of the ministry.

In the letter Derrraji sent to the AMP, he wrote that he had been made aware of concerning information regarding the contractual process.

“Several sources indicate that a particular direction had been envisaged even before the formal launch of the process, which raises serious questions regarding compliance with the principles of integrity, fairness and competition,” the letter states.

The Digital Health Record (DSN) has been making headlines regularly for several weeks.

It is a digitization project expected to cost between $1.5 and $3 billion, aimed at merging no fewer than 400 different IT systems within the healthcare network.

It is raising numerous concerns, particularly regarding its operation and potential security flaws.

A pilot project begins on Saturday at the CIUSSS de la Mauricie-et-du-Centre-du-Québec and the CIUSSS du Nord-de-l’Île-de-Montréal.

Implementing the pilot projects in the two CIUSSSs will cost at least $400 million, and more than 1,000 people will be involved in supporting the operation.

The DSN aims to enable healthcare professionals to view and update a patient’s digital medical record, including all their data, in real time.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 7, 2026.