Businesswoman Christiane Germain will receive annual compensation of $173,000 to chair the board of directors of the new Santé Québec agency.
This salary was granted to him under a decree adopted on the day of the announcement of his appointment as head of Health, the media relations team of the Executive Council and the Treasury Board secretariat confirmed on Thursday.
Santé Québec being one of the level 1 state corporations, the annual remuneration of its president would have amounted to $42,400, according to the standards in force, but it was considerably increased according to this decree.
The salary of the 12 other members of the board of directors of the new agency is also $21,200, the equivalent of that offered to those who occupy such positions. To this amount is added, where applicable, an additional annual amount of $5,600 to act as a member or $8,400 to act as president of a committee of the board of directors.
When it was created, Santé Québec was classified among the level 1 state corporations. In this category we find: the Financial Markets Authority, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hydro-Québec, Investissement Québec, the Sociétés des alcools du Québec and Sociétés des Lotteries du Québec.
Note that Christiane Germain is not the only president of the board of directors whose annual remuneration exceeds that provided for by the Quebec decrees.
Last June, the government granted compensation of $195,000 to the new president of the board of directors of Hydro-Québec, Manon Brouillette. This was an increase of nearly $75,000 compared to her predecessor Jacinthe Côté.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, however, had to defend himself Thursday for having made a partisan appointment in the case of Christiane Germain, co-founder and co-president of the hotel company that bears her name and also a long-time caquiste.
“I know Mr.me Germain for 30 years. It has nothing to do with the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). We named Diane Lamarre, who is a PQ member and a high-caliber pharmacist. Partisanship has nothing to do with appointments,” he said in a press scrum Thursday morning at the National Assembly.
With Fanny Lévesque, The Press and The Canadian Press