Mr. Speaker, in the last sitting I talked about the schedule for the review of the Medical Travel Policy, and we were hoping to have the base Cabinet policy ready for discussion on March 31st of this year. I did have an opportunity to get briefed by the department and go through that Cabinet policy and I didn’t feel that it was quite right and it needed some additional work, so I’ve actually sent it back to the department.
Between that and some other competing priorities, we are a little behind. I’m hoping to have that Cabinet policy to Cabinet and then to Standing Committee on Social Programs in July. In the meantime, I’ve had an opportunity to travel around the North and talk to a number of people, and there are lots of individuals who are obviously frustrated about medical travel, in particular escorts.
In our discussions on the medical travel review, I had indicated that once we had the Cabinet policy done, then we would work on the individual portions: escorts, appeal process, price. Recognizing that there is this delay and we won’t be ready until July, I’ve asked the department to expedite the review of the escorts policy in light of situations like the Member has discussed. We will be going out for an RFP immediately to seek input and provide some direction and to find some options to deal with the escort portion of medical travel. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.