The position of president and CEO of Santé Québec, the agency at the heart of Health Minister Christian Dubé’s reform, is arousing interest. According to the Ministry of Executive Council, 63 people submitted their applications between January 17 and 1er March, the final date for completing a file on its platform. The future leader could take office by the end of April, according to the government.
Among the 63 applications, around ten were identified by a firm recruited by the Ministry of Health and Social Services to carry out “prospecting”, according to the Ministry of Executive Council. “These applications are in addition to those already submitted on the platform of the Secretariat for Higher Employment,” it is specified in an email sent to Duty late Thursday afternoon.
The CEO of Santé Québec will have the difficult mission of coordinating the operations of the public health and social services network and carrying out “a major organizational transformation project”. Its mandate will be to make the network “more efficient” and make it an “employer of choice”.
The problems he will have to resolve are numerous: improving access to the front line and family doctors, relieving emergency room congestion, reducing surgical waiting lists, dealing with the labor shortage and convincing nurses from private agencies to return to the public fold, among others.
Asked to react to the number of applications submitted, the office of Minister Christian Dubé underlines that “the management team of Santé Québec will have a major challenge” and says it is “delighted” by “the enthusiasm to meet this one”. “The hiring process will continue over the coming weeks by the Secretariat for Senior Employment,” it says. We are staying the course towards our objective of appointing the president and chief executive officer of Santé Québec during the month of April. »
The selected executive will receive a salary of $567,000 per year and $652,050 in the first two years (an income which will exceed that of the CEO of Hydro-Québec, the highest paid of the bosses of Quebec state companies ). His mandate will last for a maximum of five years, but may be renewed. According to the call for applications, the person who will be appointed must have professional experience of at least 15 years in management, “including 5 years or more in management positions in a large organization”.
Initially, Minister Christian Dubé said he wanted to recruit “ top guns » from the private sector to take the reins of the new government agency. Whether from the public or private sector, the chosen person will be surrounded by a management team. Calls for applications for these positions are not yet posted on the website of the Secretariat for Senior Employment.
Minister Christian Dubé has already set up a transition committee to plan and facilitate the handover of “the ministry’s operations to Santé Québec”. Its first meeting took place in January. A few weeks earlier, the minister said he expected the positive effects of his health reform to be felt next summer. “The big benefits – the single employer, the mobility that I’m talking about – that will come during the summer and during the fall,” he declared in the press scrum.
A previous version of this text spoke of 53 candidates. We have since modified for 63 candidates. Indeed, the Ministry of Executive Council transmitted this new information to the Duty late Thursday afternoon.