There is one area I think that should be looked at right now in terms of what an ombudsman could do. I think your committee was told last week that there is an ombudsman for long-term care in Ste. Anne's Hospital. That would be a good starting point, and we've been actually advocating for an ombudsman or an inspector general, or whatever you may want to call it, in the 17 large-contract facilities that have priority-access beds. So that would be probably one important role that an ombudsman could and should play.
In the context of devising a mandate for an ombudsman, I think we should build a certain flexibility into his mandate so that he or she is receiving recommendations and input from an advisory council. That advisory council should be inclusive of some of the major veterans organizations.
I think this is where we're going. I think it would be very imprudent on our part to go any further, because I think the ultimate authority of deciding which model we're comfortable with resides with our executive council, which will meet in June.