Thank you.
I'm taken aback by the idea that the 2008 report is due in two days and we're spending two hours on the 2006 report. I hope I can make some questions and comments that will still be useful.
My background is having sat at a cabinet table for four years, wrestling with health spending that was ballooning out of control and gobbling up the budgets of other important ministries, like environment. At the same time, I have lots of constituents who are very concerned about health care and value for money and how we can avoid this continuing to balloon while maintaining a public health care system. I think indicators, measures, and goals and targets are critical to improving things. Just by measuring things, you improve them. There's research on continuous quality improvement.
A quick question I have is to the assistant deputy minister, Ms. Dodds. Given the purpose of the 2006 report—to provide information on comparable health indicators to help federal, provincial, and territorial jurisdictions and health care providers monitor trends and progress toward improving the health of Canadians—do you believe this report does that?