(Quebec) The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, behaves like an intimidator within the framework of the study of Bill 28, accuses the Liberal MP for Nelligan, Monsef Derraji.
Posted at 10:10 a.m.
This piece of legislation aims to end the state of health emergency, but extends certain exceptional powers of the government until December 31, 2022.
On Wednesday, Mr. Dubé worked to interrupt an exchange that he did not like between Mr. Derraji and the acting national director of public health, Dr.r Luc Boileau.
PHOTO ÉRICK LABBÉ, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVES
Monsef Derraji
Mr. Boileau, who is also a deputy minister of health, came to testify in favor of the bill.
According to Mr. Derraji, a climate of intimidation settled within the group, with the impression that he was going to receive a slap in the face from a CAQ member whom he did not want to name.
“I felt the intimidation in the parliamentary committee,” he said Thursday at a press briefing. I just want to tell them that I will continue to ask my questions. »
COVID, a “cold”?
At the heart of the exchange, the recent statement by Prime Minister François Legault that COVID-19 is only “a cold, more or less” if you are adequately vaccinated.
A comment “completely counterproductive”, lamented Thursday the spokesperson for Quebec solidaire in health, Vincent Marissal.
“I had a thought for the nursing staff. These people have been sweating blood and water for two years, often in pitiful conditions.
“And there, the Prime Minister, after two years of fierce battle against the virus, comes to tell us essentially that it is a cold. It wasn’t his best,” he said.
During an impromptu press, Minister Dubé defended the Prime Minister and criticized MP Derraji for having taken his words out of context.
” [M. Legault] spoke of the importance of vaccination, he said that he had been vaccinated three times, and that for him, in these personal circumstances, it was equivalent to a cold, precisely because he had had three doses.
“What I find irresponsible of the MP for Nelligan is cutting the quote, editing it to show it’s just a cold, and that’s what I said yesterday, that I I thought it was unacceptable,” said Mr. Dubé.
The minister also denies having intimidated Monsef Derraji.