After Superminister Fitzgibbon, the creation of Quebec’s health agency will transform Christian Dubé into a “miniminister” by allowing him to take responsibility for action on the ground, Liberals claim.
• Also read: Here are Christian Dubé’s 7 keys to making the network effective
“What will the minister do after this law is passed?” interim leader of Quebec’s Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay, asked himself Thursday morning in response to the Dubé reform unveiled the previous day.
By creating a state body responsible for running the health network, it will essentially serve as a “caquiste anti-accountability shield,” according to Liberals.
The contrast between the responsibilities concentrated in the hands of superminister Pierre Fitzgibbon and those remaining in the hands of the health minister is striking, believes Marc Tanguay. “We will have a mini minister of health, not a super minister,” he joked.
A few minutes later, Prime Minister François Legault dismissed these fears just before entering the Blue Room. “What we have seen since yesterday is that the opposition and the unions are defending the status quo,” he said.
Mr Dubé’s reform will not lead to less accountability of the minister, he assures. “There will continue to be periods of questions and there will continue to be oppositions who will hold us accountable for good reason. So nothing has changed,” said François Legault.
Appointing a local manager in each facility (hospitals, CHSLDs, etc.) will also allow for greater accountability locally, the premier believes.
“Good management is that Quebec, the senior management, evaluates the results but keeps the choice of means local. Worse… it gives them strength. They can hang themselves with it, but they have an obligation to provide quality services,” he said.
centralization
But the opposition does not share his opinion.
On the Québec solidaire side, this new mix of structures continues the centralization of the network initiated by Philippe Couillard under the Charest government and then continued by Gaétan Barrette under the Couillard government.
“It’s a bureaucratic power trip,” says QS spokesman Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. It is a reform by and for the bureaucrats (…). Centralization messed up the system, and now the government says it will go further.
Worse still, this reform “will not change anything for the patients”, finds Solidarity.
“It won’t improve care, it won’t bring nurses back into the healthcare network,” breathed Mr Nadeau-Dubois.
The PQ is of the same opinion. “This is the biggest centralization effort we’ve ever seen,” said MP Joël Arseneau, who “doesn’t really” see Christian Dubé’s bill with a good eye.
“We see that the spirit of the bill (…) is that we present it as a project that enables local governance, while stating the opposite,” he said.
“For local management, we’re going to appoint directors everywhere, and appoint managers there for us, who no longer need an elected board, but are dependent on Quebec’s managers,” he explained.
staff mobility
However, not everything is black. For its part, the proposal to recognize the seniority of health network staff throughout Quebec in order to encourage staff mobility from one region to another has been well received by the opposition.
However, it must be ensured that staff who have left the public network to work in recruitment agencies return to the health network, explained PQ MP Joël Arseneau.
Fast acceptance
Minister Dubé, who said on Wednesday he hoped his bill would be passed quickly, will have to rein in his enthusiasm. “I have been here for several years. A bill with 1,200 articles, I’ve never seen that before,” said Liberal MP André Fortin, who believes studying the legislative document will take time.
Likewise, the PQ believes that it will not be possible to adopt this law before the end of the June session, but does not rule out that this will be the case by the end of 2023.
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