Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was pleased to hear from our finance Minister about the successes the health recruitment unit has been having recently. The updates she shared were welcomed news indeed. Where I am left with some questions is what the overall picture is looking like considering these successes. It would be helpful to know what we are ultimately working to achieve and how close we are to that goal. I am also concerned that despite questions being raised repeatedly at committee and in this House, it is not yet clear to the public what parameters need to be met in our healthcare system to be able to say that residents have adequate access to care. I will continue to repeat that we need to be clear about this so that this Assembly can measure our progress against targets and hold the Minister and department to account and also so that all the work that staff are doing on recruitment, workforce stabilization and planning, and fiscal sustainability, is framed by what we are ultimately trying to achieve and flows towards those goals. This is so basic and fundamental that I feel silly repeatedly raising this point, but I am yet to see these goals clearly articulated in a way that I and the public can understand them so until I do see this, I am going to operate with the understanding that we don't know what we're working to achieve, which, if it is true, is a big problem.

What I want to know are the basics. People have been grouped under care teams, for example. What is the ideal panel size for a care team, and what workforce needs do we need to meet to achieve that? What is our target maximum wait time for a resident to be triaged and access a health care provider in their panel based on urgency? What is our target emergency room wait time, and what workforce goals do we need to meet to achieve that?

I raise points like these because this is how I relate to the healthcare system as a resident and a patient. The complexities of everything that is being done to get us to the ultimate goals is good information to have access to, but when residents are struggling to get appointments to see a doctor or waiting at the emergency room for 10 hours to see a doctor, none of it feels like help to them.

Mr. Speaker, let's ensure we have clear outcomes we are working towards and that we are clear with the public about what their expectations for care should be. It's as simple as that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.