Lionel Carmant leaves CAQ, will sit as independent

Francois Legault's CAQ party lost a high-profile minister when Lionel Carmant announced he was leaving the party.

A prominent member of Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s cabinet is leaving the party over the province’s controversial new doctors’ bill.

Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant said he is leaving the CAQ to sit as an independent.

Carmant stood beside Legault on Thursday morning in a brief news scrum to announce that, after reflection, he will leave the party.

“After sincere reflection and lots of discussions with my loved ones, I made the heart-wrenching decision to step down from my functions as minister,” said Carmant.

• WATCH the full news conference (FRENCH ONLY)

“I admit the last few weeks were difficult and brought me to the decision to reestablish my priorities. I’m choosing my family. The family that my wife and I have built,” he said.

The decision comes the day after his daughter, Dr. Laurence Carmant, penned a letter in Le Devoir saying she had no other choice but to seek employment in another province if Quebec does not “allow her to practice freely.”

Bill 2, a special law passed under closure on Saturday, changes the way doctors are paid, sets performance targets for them and threatens them with sanctions.

READ MORE: What’s in Quebec’s controversial doctors’ bill?

Carmant’s daughter said in her letter that she had noticed “how broken our system is.”

“In Toronto, a morning of diagnostic procedures (amniocentesis, chorionic biopsies) allowed me to see eight to twelve patients; in Quebec, I am told that I can only see three in the same amount of time. Same doctor, same motivation, same skills: my productivity drops by 75 per cent,” she said.

“Health Minister Christian Dubé seems to blame doctors for the lack of productivity observed in Quebec. Rather than blaming individuals, which is certainly easier, let’s have a real societal reflection and rethink the health care system as a whole.”

The now former minister, Carmant, is a pediatric neurologist and served as junior health minister before taking the lead on the social services post.

“It’s not easy to leave the issue I’m passionate about, but I believe it’s the right decision for me and my family,” said Carmant.

A visibly shaken Legault, who is a close friend of Carmant, spoke after.

“Lionel Carmant is a man of exceptional value. I have known him for a long time and (...) I understand the heartbreak he and his family are currently experiencing. In life, you always have to choose your family first,” said Legault. “This is not the day to talk about Bill 2, but I understand that there are some very emotional reactions. I think that’s normal, and I would like to take this opportunity to say to everyone: (...) “We can disagree while still being respectful.’”

The two men embraced before leaving the podium.

‘If we continue doing the same recipe, we’ll get the same bad cake!’

Later in the day, Legault doubled down on his decision to push Bill 2 forward.

“I knew that it would be tough, including for friends, because we’re talking about Lionel, but I’ve got other friends that are doctors, and of course, there’s some uncertainty,” he said.

“I still hope that we can have some discussion from now until January, first to make sure that all federations and doctors that they understand that we are doing that for the good of Quebecers.”

He said politics is like “an extreme sport,” but that he had to do something to improve health care.

“The first thing, the most important thing, is to change the way we pay the doctors. I’ve been saying that for 25 years, so I haven’t changed my mind,” he said. “If we continue doing the same recipe, we’ll get the same bad cake.”

Legault also announced that former seniors’ minister Sonia Bélanger would now hold the portfolio of Seniors and Caregivers, Social Services, and the minister delegate for Health.

The housing portfolio, which Bélanger held, now goes to Caroline Proulx.

“I thank them for accepting to take on these two major challenges, which are very important for Quebec,” he said. “I have full confidence in them.”

‘Real shock for the CAQ’

Political analyst Victor Henriquez said he expected the resignation after seeing the letter from Carmant’s daughter.

“He’s a man that is very near to his family, he has a great relationship with all of them, so when she published that, I thought it was maybe not coordinated, but certainly allowed by her father,” said Henriquez.

However, Henriquez said it “was a real shock for the CAQ.”

“He was probably one of the most appreciated ministers in that government,” he said.

Carmant was one of the manifesto signatories who created the Coalition Avenir Quebec.

He was elected in 2018 and represents the Taillon riding on Montreal’s South Shore and re-elected in 2022.

Henriquez said that Legault knows he has now lost one of his most loyal members, but Carmant is far from the first.

Among them, Municipal Affairs Minister Andrée Laforest resigned in September to run for Saguenay mayor, and Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon resigned in September last year.

Henriquez said losing ministers who have been with him from the beginning is going to cause Legault to think about his future.

“The shock is very high today in Quebec City,” said Henriquez. “The fact that he’s losing one of his most loyal ministers is going to have some effects on him... The question is still the same. Is he going to stay there after the Christmas time or is he going to have time to think about his future and change his mind?”

-with files from the Canadian Press.