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This week I want to talk about the New Brunswick Health Council. It is one of the four bodies created to replace the eight regional health authorities. Health councils are the way of the future. The World Health Organization recommends health jurisdictions implement health councils.

The provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario have already created their own health councils. There is also a Canada Health Council which is a national version of those provincial examples. The New Brunswick Health Council will be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

It has two primary functions: the first is to ensure the health authorities are doing as they are supposed to by measuring, monitoring and reporting on the performance of the system and the second function is to engage the public to determine if the public is getting the health care services they want.

The Chair of the Board of Directors is Rino Volpé. Mr. Volpé was previously a vice-president with J.D. Irving, Limited and held numerous executive positions with Assumption Life. He currently operates his own consulting company in Edmundston. The board will be made up of citizens, as well as people selected from various health professions and academic institutions.

Answering to the Chair is the new CEO, Stephane Robichaud. Mr. Robichaud was previously the vice-president of planning and operations with the Beauséjour Regional Health Authority. He has more than 12 years experience in economic analysis and public policy development.

The Health Council will be the genuine advocacy engine of the new health system. The changes mean that parochial politics will have less and less of an impact on health care in the province. People will have more than a say, they will have a stake in the process by working together through various engagement models to solve the problems facing health care in the province and in our regions.

The public will have the opportunity to influence government decisions, like never before. Possible issues for public engagement include measuring overall population satisfaction with the health care system, or the level of access to health care or mental health and addiction services.

* Mike Murphy is the Provincial Health Minister and MLA for Moncton-North. His column appears bi-weekly in Moncton This Week. He can be reached at his office on Mountain Road or by phone at 869-6115.