After the slaughter that occurred in the CHSLDs during the first wave of the pandemic, no one imagined for a single moment that Danielle McCann and Marguerite Blais could consider seeking a new mandate in the general elections next October.
The poor results of the Minister of Health had been sanctioned in the summer of 2020 by her transfer to Higher Education, while Mme Blais, head of Elders, had to take leave for burnout.
Both could invoke age to take a retirement that no one would have regretted, but that everyone would have understood, and they probably wanted nothing better than to step aside as discreetly as possible.
That they were targeted by the opposition is not surprising, but they certainly didn’t need a kick of the ass from their own camp. Before they had time to notify their constituents of their intentions, as is customary, “government sources” hastened to leak the news to the media.
Prime Minister Legault assures that his office had nothing to do with this leak, but the coincidence between the announcement of their departure and the return to the forefront of the CHSLD drama gives the unfortunate impression that the two women have were simply sacrificed in the hope that public opinion would be satisfied.
Mr. Legault himself exaggerated by denouncing a “smearing” operation in anticipation of the by-election in Marie-Victorin, but it is true that the opposition abusively shouted “Watergate” on the basis of emails and overdramatized recordings that we knew had already been sent to coroner Géhane Kamel.
After the departure of M.me McCann, the minister responsible for seniors, appeared to be the weak link in the government and offered herself as a target with her contradictory versions of what had happened in CHSLDs in the spring of 2020.
In an interview with Radio-Canada in August 2020, she argued that her warnings about the danger presented by the massive transfer of elderly people from hospitals to CHSLDs had not been taken into account. When she appeared before Coroner Kamel last January, she no longer remembered it, blaming the emotion of the moment for her remarks in 2020.
She had however had a year to recover when she spoke with the authors of the book 5060 (one of whom is my spouse, should I specify), to whom she explained the efforts she had made in vain to put an end to these transfers, as demanded by families worried about the fate of their elderly parents who were denied them access.
The chief of staff of M.me McCann, Jonathan Valois, confirmed it: “Marguerite tells us: ‘Stop sending them, we won’t have people to treat them.’ But without saying that we don’t listen to him, we tell him: “It’s fine, we’ll make sure we have the necessary manpower.” »
In other words, he was being told to mind his own business.
It’s hard to explain M’s disturbing memory lapse.me Blais before the coroner other than by a desire to avoid his government being accused of having turned a deaf ear to his cries of alarm. By way of recognition, it was instead thrown to the lions.
Politics has iron rules. One can be thrown away after use without anyone feeling the slightest remorse, regardless of the services rendered. Until the pandemic broke out, we were happy to have found in Danielle McCann – called to replace in disaster Gertrude Bourdon, who had preferred the offer of the PLQ – the antithesis of Gaétan Barrette. And in the club of business people that the CAQ resembled, Marguerite Blais brought the touch of empathy that was missing.
In reality, today Ms.me Blais for not making sure her colleagues were doing their job. She shouldn’t have believed them when they told her: “It’s fine, we’ll make sure we have the necessary manpower. »
After the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal informed the government that it was taking the reins of the private CHSLD Herron, she should have inquired daily about the follow-up that had been done. It is obvious that the CIUSSS was not up to the task, but it was under the Ministry of Health.
Even 15 months after the tragedy of the CHSLDs and the death of thousands of elderly people in horrible conditions, Mme McCann still refused, in an interview granted to the authors of 5060to recognize that the massive transfers had been a mistake.
This shows how much Marguerite Blais had trouble convincing. Finally, his great fault would be not to have been listened to.