Thank you, Mr. Chair. This motion is self-explanatory in what it calls for, but we were particularly seized with identifying performance measures that were more than just output-based, such as, you know, amount of children care versus children who have moved outside the system, something along those lines. Those are useful figures, but we really need a better understanding of the quality of care, and committee members felt very strongly that identifying very clear performance indicators, especially those directed at clients in the system, are the best way to understand the quality of the provision of services and not just the quantity of those services, for lack of a better word.
As we know, governments report often. This government actually is quite proactive in many of its reporting requirements, or the information it chooses to report publicly, and those are good things, but often the issue is not the reporting itself but what is being reported. So it is crucial that any reporting that is done incorporates these measurements and that these measurements are included in basically everything the department does at a broader level, so that both the public and Members of this Assembly, future Members as well, can be able to look at a line or look at a report and clearly see how the system is functioning and whether or not it is functioning up to a standard that is acceptable as determined by legislation, regulation, and the public interest. Thank you, Mr. Chair.