The delays accumulated this week due to cases of COVID-19 in the National Assembly will not ankylose the legislative work more than necessary, assures the parliamentary leader of the government, Simon Jolin-Barrette. Gags are “not at all” contemplated on the bills under consideration, he said Wednesday.
The Minister of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) wanted to reassure the opposition groups, who expressed fears in the morning about the smooth running of the parliamentary process, about two months before the end of the session.
“Not at all, not at all,” he said in English when asked about his intentions to use the exceptional procedure to speed up the adoption of some of the 20 government bills under consideration. . “Of course, we have to adjust”, agreed Mr. Jolin-Barrette, but the National Assembly did not deconfine “too quickly”, he believes.
As of Wednesday, eight elected officials, including the prime minister, François Legault, were forced to be absent from the halls of parliament due to COVID-19. Six of them are CAQ deputies.
After Transport Minister François Bonnardel and backbenchers Stéphanie Lachance, Lise Lavallée and Sébastien Schneeberger, Deputy Prime Minister Geneviève Guilbault also contracted the virus. “Last Sunday my daughter tested positive for COVID-19,” she wrote. on Twitter Wednesday. I have cared for her since, and had symptoms on Monday, confirmed by a positive test [mardi]. I will therefore remain isolated until Saturday, in accordance with the instructions of Public Health. »
The government has given itself the directive never to send the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister to the same event between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2021. Mr. Legault and Mr.me Guilbault also ensured an alternating presence at the Blue Room for question period until last September.
The deputies have been more and more numerous in the chamber since mid-March. By virtue of an agreement concluded between the parliamentary groups and the elected independents, the National Assembly can sit with all its members present.
“We are not an island”
However, there you have it, the accumulation of cases of COVID-19 between the walls of the Quebec parliament endangers the adoption of priority legislative measures, said Wednesday the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec, Dominique Anglade. “We are not an island, in the National Assembly, huh. We are like the general population, we are affected by that, ”she observed in the press scrum. ” [Ça] reinforces the need to have a government that is on its business, because there are plenty of bills, little time left in the session. »
“He will have to prioritize […] accordingly,” she adds.
In terms of health and social services alone, elected officials are analyzing four government bills, including the reform of the Department of Youth Protection and a measure on access to medical data.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon criticizes the CAQ for having procrastinated. “It’s like when you’re at school, you have an exam and you start studying the day before. That you don’t sleep, that you drink coffee all night […] and you say to yourself: “Oh! I really have to pass this exam.” »
Faced with the rise in cases, which notably affected her fellow MP Émilise Lessard-Therrien, solidarity co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois invites Public Health to decide on replacement parliamentary procedures if it believes it necessary. .
With Alexandre Robillard