Mr. Chairman, as my hon. colleague would know because he is a physician himself, there has been a lot of work done over the last 10 or 15 years in terms of looking at clinical guidelines. We now know that there are clear clinical guidelines, for instance, on how to know whether an ankle that is twisted and swollen is sprained or broken. Therefore inherent in that question would be some clear guidelines as to whether to do an x-ray or not, because an x-ray is an extra cost to the system.
If we have some of these guidelines it is something we can use. It means that governments should collaborate and work in close partnership with health care professionals and the people who are doing that kind of research.
At the end of the day if we had some sort of health commission it could look at outcomes and stop the finger pointing and the idea that it is the fault of the federal or provincial governments. It could look at clinical guidelines that were set by various health care associations, bodies or colleges. It could decide whether the outcomes are good, whether the quality is being achieved, and whether there are cost savings.
We know that to spend a day in an acute care hospital costs anywhere between $800 to $1,200 a day, yet the cost for a person getting home care or care in the community could be anywhere from $120 to $200 a day. We need to have people who do not have political stripes on them in any way to look at that.