You could almost hear a “phew” of relief in the office of Prime Minister François Legault on Monday, when coroner Géhane Kamel delivered her report on the CHSLD tragedy.
In the one she had presented at the conclusion of her investigation into the death of Joyce Echawhensome had blamed Mand Kamel for exceeding his mandate. This time, she stuck to it scrupulously.
This takes nothing away from the relevance of its findings and its recommendations on the improvements to be made to the health network, but the government itself probably did not expect to get away with it so easily.
With such a heavy record, we certainly cannot congratulate him on his health management, by far the worst in Canada. On the other hand, his political management of the crisis is an undeniable success.
The victory in the by-election in Marie-Victorin and the recent polls already reflected the verdict of the people. The coroner’s report sort of closes the file.
The opposition parties must have been happy that the National Assembly is on vacation this week. This will give them some time to find an angle on the coroner’s report. It’s a safe bet that they won’t dwell on it too much.
Despite the mistakes made, the general impression that emerges is that of a government that did its best after having inherited a network that the negligence of its predecessors had left in a state that did not allow it to face the pandemic successfully.
Whether it is due to the lack of personnel attributable to “historical budgetary considerations”, the cumbersome structures that are the CISSSs and the CIUSSSs, the impossibility of obtaining the data that would have allowed real-time management or even of the “double hat” of the national director of public health, it is possible for him to blame it on the “former government”.
Mr. Legault must still blame himself a little for having precipitated the announcement of the departure of the Minister responsible for Seniors, Marguerite Blais, who, according to the coroner, was the only one to have the step, but who preached in the desert, when she denounced the massive transfer of hospitalized elderly people to CHSLDs.
Mand Kamel was not troubled by the successive and contradictory versions she delivered over the months. Her testimony was the “most credible”, she judged. Better still, she sent her congratulations, emphasizing that “the contribution of the minister and her deputy minister is undeniable”. After being pilloried, this rehabilitation will certainly make retirement easier for her.
Since someone had to be found guilty, the CEO of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal, Lynne McVey, was the perfect choice and she had the good taste to announce her departure before being executed in the public square. Not only was his team below all in the CHSLD Herron disaster, but his attempt to place full responsibility on the owners of the establishment was a gesture that the coroner had the indulgence to qualify only of “unsightly”.
It is in his remarks on the behavior of Dr Horacio Arruda as Mr.and Kamel spoke of the “slight vagueness” surrounding the period from January to March 12, 2020, when “all the signals were present, but were not taken into account”.
It is true that Mr. Arruda’s explanations of his activities during the weeks preceding the outbreak of the pandemic were never very clear. It is still disturbing that he chose to take a vacation at such a time.
The coroner’s mandate was limited to CHSLDs and private seniors’ residences (RPA), but this “slight vagueness” may very well apply to the entire health network during the same period.
To this day, the impression remains that the alert was given much too late for the necessary precautions to be taken. It remains staggering that Prime Minister Legault was only informed on March 9 of the fury of the coming storm.
It will probably be necessary to mourn a satisfactory explanation. It has long been clear that there will not be a public inquiry, because the government has never felt that the public demanded one. Far from adding to the pressure, the coroner simply “invited” him to do a “retrospective” of the events by “the vehicle he deems appropriate”. An obscure “monitoring committee” will do the trick.
In reality, everyone is eager to turn the page. We are only asking the government to ensure that it is ready to face the next storm.