Former Deputy Health Minister Roger Paquet has known Luc Boileau for a long time. Their first meeting dates back to the ice storm in 1998. Mr. Boileau was then director of planning and evaluation within the regional health board in Montérégie, a region hard hit by the storm.
“I immediately saw his strong communication skills, to make the message accessible,” he says.
Appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESSS) in 2015, Mr. Paquet reunited with Mr. Boileau, who was its President and CEO.
During this interval, Mr. Boileau had continued his ascent within the Quebec health administration, which began in 1985, barely four years after receiving his medical degree at the University of Sherbrooke.
His journey culminated last week, when he was appointed assistant deputy minister at the Ministry of Health and interim national director of public health, succeeding Horacio Arruda.
Luc Boileau takes on his new duties in the midst of a storm on a completely different scale than that of the ice storm. The government is facing a headwind more than ever for its management of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to coming under criticism for appearances of political interference in public health decisions.
So far, Mr. Boileau has made cautious and measured interventions in press conferences where he has appeared alongside Health Minister Christian Dubé and Premier François Legault. In one of his first performances, the new captain of public health affirmed his intention to assume his function with independence.
For Roger Paquet, Mr. Boileau demonstrated his ability to resist the pressures that INESSS could face from various sources when deciding whether the use of a drug should be authorized. “I have no fears about his ability to maintain complete independence from politics,” he said.
Before his political career, former Health Minister Yves Bolduc knew Luc Boileau in the 1990s. He has only good words for him. “He’s probably the best person we could appoint to this position,” he said. He knows public health well. »
When he was minister, Mr. Bolduc rubbed shoulders with Mr. Boileau, who then headed the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), before moving to INESSS in 2014.
“He is able to remain independent, which does not mean that he will not be able to take political elements into account,” said the former Liberal minister, saying that he still maintains good relations today with Mr. Boileau.
A doubt
Gaétan Barrette, who was Minister of Health from 2014 to 2018, doubts that the government will give Mr. Boileau all the necessary latitude to exercise his independence. “He is capable of it. Are we going to allow it? he wonders.
Mr. Barrette affirms that he always ensured the independence of Mr. Boileau and of INESSS when he was in office. “He didn’t need to hold his own,” says the deputy. I asked him to be independent. »
Former Liberal MP for a riding located in Montérégie, Lucie Charlebois had to exchange on several occasions with Mr. Boileau when he headed the board, then the regional health agency in the region.
According to Mme Charlebois, Mr. Boileau testified to his ability to “put his foot down”. “I didn’t always agree with what he was doing and he explained to me why based on the directives, she recalls. Even if I wanted to change things, when it couldn’t be done, it couldn’t be done. »
He is able to remain independent, which does not mean that he will not be able to take political elements into account.
Mme Charlebois, who left politics in 2018 after serving as Minister Delegate for Public Health in the Couillard government, continues to closely monitor the management of the pandemic.
She believes that the appearance of independence has not improved, despite Mr. Boileau’s commitment on this subject, during a press conference with Mr. Legault. “He said he would be able to, but again, he’s sitting next to the Prime Minister,” said Ms.me Charlebois. This is not his press briefing. »
For the former minister, another appearance problem arises with regard to the independence of the new director: his daughter, Marjaurie Côté-Boileau, is Mr. Dubé’s press officer.
“She would have to take a job as a press officer elsewhere,” she said. The cards are shuffled. I do not feel comfortable. »
The duty revealed Thursday that Mr. Dubé’s office has sought the opinion of the Ethics Commissioner of the National Assembly on this subject.
Respect for hierarchy
The regional director of public health for Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Yv Bonnier-Viger, knew Mr. Boileau when he was on duty in Montérégie. He will be able to take over from Mr. Arruda, he believes.
“He has always shown a certain respect for his colleagues, there have been no conflicts, he listens,” says Mr. Bonnier-Viger. The team was functioning and the team changes captains. I don’t think he’s coming there to shake things up. »
His colleague Jean-Pierre Trépanier, who heads public health in the Laval region, also believes that Mr. Boileau will be able to lead the network until the end of the crisis.
“He knows both public health and the health network,” he says. I think he’s going to be a good person to help us get to the end of the pandemic. »
Mr. Bonnier-Viger has reservations about the ability of the new national director to demonstrate independence. He points to his executive career which led him to the top of the organization chart of the Ministry of Health.
He gives the example of discussions on staffing plans where Mr. Boileau, then president of the INSPQ, defended, according to him, the position of the government. “With his career as CEO, and not as a public health specialist, I don’t think he naturally has a lot of independence from the structure, from the hierarchy,” says Mr. Bonnier-Viger.
When the crisis caused by the pandemic is over, the time will come to look at how to improve the independence of the national director of public health, he believes. Mr. Bonnier-Viger believes in particular that this position should move away from the executive power, to which he is attached by his other title of assistant deputy minister.
The national director should be appointed by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly, he argues.
“We would find a balance between influence and independence,” assures Mr. Bonnier-Viger.
A useful proximity
Former PQ Health Minister Réjean Hébert is of the opposite opinion. “The independence of public health is nonsense,” he said. Public health has a political component. »
The link of the national director of public health with the executive power is an advantage that gives control over political decisions, ”he says.
“Instead of watching what the government is doing and commenting, Public Health here is in the executive and that’s an advantage,” he says.
Mr. Hébert takes a completely different look at Mr. Arruda’s recommendation to allow gatherings of 20 people during the Holidays. If critics had denounced the product of an appearance of government interference, Mr. Hébert believes that it was rather Public Health who then forced a decline in 10 people.
” Who won ? It’s public health, not politics, ”he says.
Mr. Hébert believes that Mr. Boileau, with whom he studied medicine in Sherbrooke, has all the qualities to occupy his new functions because of his political skills.
“People in public health who have less of this skill are more focused on strict medical data and don’t really take into account social acceptability and feasibility,” says the former minister. Luc has a fairly broad vision of public health that includes political aspects. »
With Marie-Eve Cousineau