Thanks to the Premier for those comments. I don’t think committee will be shy on bringing this forward when it’s due here, and that may be soon. But on the larger issue of program improvement, we need to determine what formal mechanisms exist for capturing our citizens’ or, in many cases, our clients’ suggestions and experiences for improved program delivery. An ombudsman is certainly one option to go. When citizens bring these instances to our attention, we are really being given a gift in terms of program evaluation.
The case of medical travel for students yesterday certainly demonstrated how sometimes program policies fly in the face of reason. The example also pointed out that although this lack of reason was brought forward in a case last year, another patient hit the same brick wall this year because no action was taken to learn from and fix the problem.
Can the Premier tell me what mechanisms are in place to collect information on instances of complaint and to capitalize on that information through straightforward analysis to identify problem areas and possible policy solutions? This information just seems too good to go to waste. Thank you.