I think there's always a lesson that we can learn from others. It's difficult to apply it directly to the Canadian culture, because Canadians are a unique culture on the planet.
Certainly we can learn from the mistakes of others about things that did not work, as opposed to repeating them ourselves. The press south of the border provides many examples of how people have thought that the veterans administration has fallen short in its abilities.
I haven't seen the same type of thing up here in Canada. I think that in the main, Canadians and our culture are sufficiently different that trying to pattern ourselves after someone else has limited applicability.