The government of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) will not have succeeded in adopting all the bills it tabled before the elections. Thirteen of them died on the soap opera. Here are a few.
medical assistance in dying
Quebec society was “ready” for an evolution of the End-of-Life Care Act, according to its first signatory, Véronique Hivon. However, the elected officials will have run out of time. On Thursday, the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, realized the obvious: his Bill 38 expanding access to medical assistance in dying (MAD) was tabled too late to be adopted.
The elected Caquist proposed to allow advance requests and to extend the boundaries of MAID to people affected by neurodegenerative diseases. With the opposition groups, he undertook to reintroduce a bill in the fall.
Voting system reform
The reform of the voting system, which had been promised in 2018 by the CAQ if it were brought to power, was discarded. Before the last elections, François Legault had nevertheless undertaken to table a bill to this effect, by signing a pact with the other opposition parties. Bill 39 was indeed tabled in September 2019, but the CAQ government has given up on adopting it. At the end of April, François Legault maintained that there was “no appetite” for this reform in the population.
Review of water charges
Tabled at midnight minus one, Bill 42 “aimed mainly at ensuring the review of the fees payable for the use of water” was never going to be adopted on time, agreed from the start the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette. It was more of a “message,” he said Wednesday. The CAQ promises that it will soon review the “water tax”, which has not generated more than three million dollars in annual revenue for twelve years. However, she is unable to say how high.
Capping of Hydro rate increases
Minister Jonatan Julien wanted to correct the situation at the end of the session by reopening the law to limit increases in Hydro rates. In the current legislative framework, they are likely to reach “4%, 5%” next year according to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
In legislation tabled Wednesday, Julien proposed capping fee increases at 3%. The measure would come into force next April. Now that the bill is dead on the order paper, the Liberal Party of Quebec expects the issue of hydroelectricity rates to become an election issue.
Health data
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, tabled Bill 19 last April, which proposes to abolish the notion of consent to allow the use of patients’ medical data during public or private research projects. , in some cases. Mr. Dubé wanted citizens to be able to access their medical records on their phone or computer at home. Quebec Solidarity MNA Vincent Marissal had expressed reservations about the bill, fearing the “commercialization” of Quebecers’ personal information. Due to a “traffic jam” at the Health and Social Services Commission, Minister Dubé abandoned his bill, while promising to reintroduce it.
With The Canadian Press