CAQ still unsure when it will reach target of seeing emergency room patients within 90 minutes

The Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), photographed in Montreal on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. At the beginning of March, Santé Québec noted that the situation in emergency rooms had stabilized, and even improved in some regions. (The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes)

The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is still unsure whether it will keep its 2018 election promise to have emergency room patients seen within 90 minutes.

At Tuesday’s review of the Ministry of Health’s budget appropriations, neither Minister Christian Dubé nor Santé Québec CEO Geneviève Biron was able to answer Liberal MNA André Fortin’s question.

The Pontiac MNA pointed out that, as of Tuesday morning, the wait in Gatineau hospital’s emergency department was 8 hours and 23 minutes. The average wait across the province is 2 hours 46 minutes.

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The CAQ had made a firm commitment to reduce the average wait in the ER to 90 minutes. This target was supposed to be reached by 2023, but in its most recent strategic plan, the Ministry of Health postponed it to 2026-2027.

On Tuesday, however, Dubé was unable to guarantee that the target would actually be met on time. He pointed out that visits to emergency departments have increased over the past year, due in particular to the ageing of the population.

“We will continue to measure this. I think that’s what Quebecers are asking us to do,” he said.

“I don’t agree with you when you say that Quebecers are asking you to measure that. Quebecers are asking you to improve things,” Fortin responded. “What gets measured gets done,” Dubé said.

Biron said that we could not expect a “uniform result” across Quebec. However, the 90-minute objective remains a “good target” to “keep in mind,” she said.

In the meantime, patients with less urgent cases should see their doctor rather than go to the emergency department, said the minister, who has been trying for several months to renew the framework agreement defining doctors’ working conditions.

“If we don’t solve the problem before the emergency department, people will continue to go there, so there has to be better management, not just in the emergency department, but by doctors,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 6, 2025.

By Caroline Plante, The Canadian Press