(Quebec) “Caquiste anti-accountability shield”, “power trip of bureaucrats” and “centralization never seen”. The opposition brings down the Dubé health reform in flames. The leader of Québec solidaire even taxes the government with realizing Gaétan Barrette’s “wet dream”. François Legault accuses them of defending “the status quo”, like the union.
The tabling by the Minister of Health of his imposing reform of the health and social services network gave rise to heated exchanges at the Blue Room on Thursday.
Speaking of a “power trip of bureaucrats”, the parliamentary leader of Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois strongly opposed the aims of the Legault government. He accused François Legault of realizing the “wet dream” of former Liberal minister Gaétan Barrette, whose reform gave birth to the CISSS and CIUSSS.
“This reform will create, essentially, a mega-bureaucracy to manage the current bureaucracy, when what should have been done is to decentralize to remove the bureaucracy”, launched the solidarity leader.
The issue of accountability was at the heart of the opposition’s grievances, the day after the tabling of Bill 15 aimed at making the health and social services network more efficient. The opposition believes that the Minister of Health is avoiding his responsibilities by creating a brand new state corporation, Santé Québec, which will be led by a president and chief executive officer and a board of directors.
“Good management is that Quebec, the senior management, evaluates the results, but leaves the choice of means locally, and there, it gives them the rope, they can hang themselves with it. But they have an obligation of result, to provide good quality services, ”retorted François Legault when he arrived at the question period.
“I can tell you it’s very clear, I will remain responsible for a whole host of things. The issue of complaints, the issue of the budget, the issue… and what we are saying is that the orientations go to the ministry, but that the exploitation of the operations of the network, it is done,” pleaded for his part. Health Minister Christian Dubé.
“We are going to tell the real things: is the opposition saying that all the recommendations that the experts have made for 20 years, starting with Michel Clair, Claude Castonguay, Joanne Castonguay, Ms. Savoie, all these experts there, got it wrong? We have the political courage to do that. Let the opposition tell us how all these experts are wrong,” he said.
In unison, the opposition deplored an “unprecedented centralization” which will have no effect on the population waiting to receive care and services.
“What is the added value of a Crown corporation overseeing the operations of the health system? Me, I find it difficult to see what it is that these managers will bring more than the current managers of the health system, ”raised the PQ MP Joël Arseneau.
“It won’t change anything for the patients, it won’t give anyone more care. It’s not going to bring a single nurse back into our public health care system. It is a reform that is not made for the world, it is a reform that was made for the bureaucrats,” said Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
“If we say that Pierre Fitzgibbon is a super minister, we will realize that after that, after this Dubé reform, there, well, we will have a mini-Minister of Health, not a super minister. So, after the CAQ anti-inflation shield, we now have the CAQ anti-imputability shield,” Liberal leader Marc Tanguay unchecked on Thursday.
Bill 15 is a brick of some 300 pages and includes 1200 articles. On Wednesday, Minister Dubé expressed the wish to adopt his reform by the end of the parliamentary session in June. A totally unrealistic scenario in the eyes of the opposition.
“I invite him to count the number of days until the adjournment in June. I can’t see, even with the best will in the world, unless he tells us that we’re going to work 24 hours a day, day and night, on weekends too, there. There are 1,200 articles in its patent, “said solidarity deputy Vincent Marissal.
Liberal André Fortin took as an example the bill aimed at tightening the screws on private employment agencies, which is under consideration. “We cooperate well. But that’s a six-article bill, and we’ve been on it for two weeks. So there are 1200 ahead of us. It takes a while to do these things. I wouldn’t want the minister to come in with a bulldozer approach and then tell us: it absolutely has to be over by June,” he said.
The Liberals offered to explore the avenue of splitting Bill 15 in two to speed up its study, to which Minister Dubé quickly closed the door. “It’s all interconnected. The day that you make the single employer and that you allow, for example, to have better mobility so that nurses who want to move from one region to another, well, that also goes with access to patients,” he said.
