Quebec is doing everything it can to recruit a talented manager to lead the new agency in Santé Québec. Radio-Canada has learned the successful candidate will receive a salary of $543,000 in addition to performance incentives. There is even talk of assigning him a driver, for example for ministers.
Getting Quebec's healthcare system back on its feet is invaluable. Minister Christian Dubé had warned that he would not skimp on spending to attract a highly qualified person from the private sector, a “top gun”, as he described it.
The CEO of the Santé Québec Agency will be tasked with coordinating the work of more than 300,000 health and social services network employees distributed across 1,500 facilities (hospitals, CHSLDs, CLSCs, etc.) across the province.
Last year, Christian Dubé met around fifty business managers to encourage them to take an interest in this future position as well as the half dozen vice-president and vice-president positions that would subsequently be filled.
I can understand that a $500,000 salary is huge for normal people, but according to Marie-Soleil Tremblay, a professor at the National School of Public Administration and an expert on governance, it is justified.
Chances are good that among these candidates there will be people who will cut their salaries two or three times to meet this social challenge.
“Culture change”
The new agency must be founded by June. The mandate of the “top gun” in the healthcare system is five years and can be extended.
The government wants the chosen person to put an end to the “status quo” in the health network and bring about “a cultural change” to make it more effective.
It takes someone capable of managing change, says Ms. Tremblay, especially when the government changes in 2026.
The trust between the Minister and this new person is extremely important.
The CEO of the Santé Québec agency will earn as much as Minister Dubé ($231,000) and the deputy health minister ($310,000) combined. These three managers also have to learn to coordinate their actions. The ministry is expected to assume only a leadership role and move away from operations.
The Health and Social Care Efficiency Act (Bill 15), adopted by gag order last month, will see Santé Québec become the sole employer in the network and be responsible for attracting and retaining employees.
A job offer next week
According to our sources, the CEO position will be advertised in mid-January for approximately a month. An independent selection committee reviews the applications, but the final decision is made by the Council of Ministers.
When contacted by Radio-Canada, the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) declined to provide details of the compensation offered.
The working conditions of Santé Québec managers will be determined later by government decree, responded spokeswoman Marie-Pierre Blier. It is therefore too early to comment on this topic at this point.
According to our information, there is talk of giving the agency's CEO a vehicle and a driver, a privilege that ministers have but that deputy ministers are not entitled to.
Hydro-Québec CEO Michael Sabia also has a driver. Agency Santé Québec's CEO salary will also be among the highest of Quebec's state-owned companies.
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For comparison, Prime Minister François Legault earns an annual salary of $270,000 and his chief of staff Martin Koskinen earns $301,000.
The agency, which will be headquartered in Quebec, will have a 15-member board on which the CEO and deputy minister will sit. The members are appointed by the Council of Ministers.
The CEOs of CISSS and CIUSSS report directly to Santé Québec. Some of them earn between $250,000 and $300,000 per year, with the exception of McGill University Health Center CEO Lucie Opatrny, who earns a salary of $398,000.
National public health director Luc Boileau, also a deputy minister, earns $336,000. His predecessor, Horacio Arruda, earned $330,000.