Proposed health agency 'Sante-Quebec' would take heat off Dube, Liberals accuse

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dube speaks to reporters about the situation at Maissoneuve-Rosemont Hospital Tuesday, January 17, 2023 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The creation of a new Quebec health-care entity will allow Minister Christian Dubé to relieve himself of responsibility.

At least that's what the Liberals fear, they said, as they met this week in a pre-sessional caucus in Lac-Beauport, north of Quebec City.

They aren't happy with the idea of a bill to create Santé Québec, a separate entity from the health ministry that would be responsible for coordinating the network's activities.

Dubé said in an interview with Le Devoir that such an agency would prevent situations like that experienced by Andrée Simard -- the widow of former premier Robert Bourassa, who was deprived of palliative care for three days before her death.

Liberal health critic André Fortin accused the minister of using Simard's death to promote his agency proposal.

"It's taking the world for a ride. ... It's a civil servant's solution that relieves the minister of his responsibilities," he said during a press scrum Wednesday.

"I cannot believe that the solution in health at this time is to put one more box in the organization chart of the Ministry of Health," he said. "The solution is to hire more people."

The day before, interim Quebec Liberal Leader Marc Tanguay also criticized the Legault government’s handling of the health file.

"This morning, I'm thinking of the person ... sitting on a stretcher who must be saying to himself: 'Hey, that's great, what good news, there's going to be another office,'" Tanguay said ironically as he arrived at the caucus on Wednesday.

'ANOTHER MIRAGE': PQ

The Parti Quebecois (PQ) says the health minister is trying to "change the subject."

"We're losing time, we're losing employees, and the system is deteriorating," said PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon on the sidelines of his party's caucus at the National Assembly.

This "duplication of structures" which aims to "give hope ... that things will get better" is "another mirage from the CAQ," added the PQ health critic, Joel Arseneau.

"The problem is not in the structures, it is in the resources that are not put in place on the ground," he said.

DUBE RESPONDS

In a written statement sent to The Canadian Press on Wednesday, Dubé said that "the status quo is no longer an option" and that the network must become "more efficient and more human."

"With Santé Québec, we will make the current structure evolve by repeating the success of vaccination on a larger scale," he said.

The minister also wrote that the creation of a new agency is a "very clear recommendation that has been made by several reports," including that of the Health and Welfare Commissioner.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 25, 2023