health inquiry statement backgrounder- march 1 2012
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8/2/2019 Health inquiry statement Backgrounder- March 1 2012
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Backgrounder
March 1, 2012
Premier Redford on health care inquiry promiseThe following is a partial transcript of Premier Redfords media availability on Friday, February 24.
Reporter: [audio unclear]and the answer twice. I just want to flesh it out, you said and I stand by myword. You were asked first off, whether the health care inquiry would be up and running, meaning the judgewould be there and the testimony would be given by at least some would be given by at least someindividuals before election day. And secondarily you were asked whether queue jumping would be part of theinquirys mandate to investigate. And on both of them you said I stand by my word. I wonder if you couldexplain a little further what is happening on those two fronts.
Premier: My commitment in the summer was that we were going to have an independent judicial inquiry,
and that is why within three weeks of being sworn in as Premier we introduced legislation to facilitate thatprocess. And Ive been very clear that we wanted to see the results of the Health Quality Council report toensure that the terms of reference for this inquiry would allow it to be a meaningful and a thoughtful process.There is not a doubt in my mind that we are going to have this inquiry starting its work before the election.The words yesterday that were used up and running could certainly be interpreted in many ways. Once weestablish this and its an independent inquiry its no longer possible for me to dictate to the inquiry how theywill conduct their business. But were certainly not intending in any way to inhibit that, and theyll have todecide what the course of that business is. But we are not looking to delay this and Minister Horne has beenvery clear that were going to keep to my commitment and our governments commitment with respect toinsuring that queue jumping is part of this and that the work will begin.
Reporter: Do feel that the inquiry itself, suggested that no inquiry is needed. That panel decided that. And
yet you will be turning the responsibility for it over to them. Do you have confidence that they will approach itwith the appropriate zeal?
Premier: Well certainly, we have legislation in place that asks the Health Quality Council to commence theprocess of conducting the independent inquiry. Once thats in place there will be people on that panel a
judge led inquiry that will determine how that work gets done. The fact that the Health Quality Councilreport on Wednesday said that they wouldnt proceed any further doesnt mean we wont do it. I have greatconfidence that this will be a meaningful and a thoughtful process that is going to help us ensure that on ago-forward basis that we are creating a better environment for health care workers and patients across theprovince.
Reporter:You said when you made your statement in the summer about the inquiry, youre talking about
political interference, I believe you referred to that, and intimidation. Are you going to make both of those partof the inquiry?
Premier: It has to be.
Reporter: Premier, sort of on the political level, what is your message on why people should trust yourgovernment on this, and the Progressive Conservatives on this, given that report lays out that the formationof AHS was mishandled. So much of the problems stem from that. How are you going to establish trust onthis?
Premier:Ive beenPremier of for four and a half months and Ive never shied away from saying thatdecisions that may have been made by previous governments were not decisions that had challenges. I
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mean whether you talk about work that I think should have been done with respect to our internationalreputation or perhaps health care issues. But the fact is that we are now in 2012 in an environment wherewe have now had this Health Quality Council, which I asked to report independently to the legislature,identify issues. The job of a government is to address those issues. There are 21 recommendations in thatreport. Weve been fully frank; were not standing up here as a government saying that health care system isperfect. But the commitment we have made is to fix it. And weve made some very good progress in four anda half months and well continue to do that. And I think the inquiry is a very important part of that. Becauseone of the reasons that I believe Albertans at the end of the day will trust this government is that I havecontinually made commitments and kept my word.
The entire media availability can be found here:
http://soundcloud.com/your-alberta/premier-redford-availability-3
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Media inquiries may be directed to:Kim MisikManager, Media RelationsOffice of the Premier
To call toll-free within Alberta dial 310-0000.
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