(Quebec) The opposition accuses Prime Minister François Legault of “interference” after he claimed, Tuesday, to have in hand a blacklist of family doctors who do not work enough to his liking.
Mr. Legault also said that he himself helped distribute the number of family physicians in the different regions of Quebec.
For the parliamentary leader of the Parti Québécois (PQ), Joël Arseneau, these are two “disturbing revelations” which say a lot about the government’s approach, which is “a lot of improvisation”, according to him.
He is surprised that the Prime Minister has admitted not knowing “legally” what it is possible to do with the list of doctors he obtained from the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ).
Mr. Legault said on Tuesday that he wanted to give these names to the leaders of the regional health authorities to meet with them, but he said he did not know whether it was legal or not.
The government would thus try to bypass the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) to negotiate directly with its members.
“There is a form of interference by the Prime Minister in the health system which is disturbing,” insisted Mr. Arseneau at a press briefing at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
For his part, the parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, deplores that the Prime Minister has “boasted” of having obtained the blacklist of “bad lazy people whom he will discipline with the whip”.
“We recognize here the Caquist style in its purest expression, that is to say pointing the finger, finding the culprits, in short, doing […] a show of bucane to avoid taking its responsibilities, he denounced.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois believes that the government is tackling the problem of access to care in a “superficial” manner. The party suggests reconnecting with an interdisciplinary vision of the first line in health.
QS says it wants a first line organized around teams where there are doctors, nurses, psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, physiotherapists, etc.
“We are in a dead end,” says Nadeau-Dubois, “because the model is broken. And what is the model? It is the liberal and caquist model at all for physicians. This model, it will never work.
“We may use all the penalties in the world, take the biggest clubs out of our arsenal and hit, then hit, then hit the doctors’ heads, it won’t work. The solution is not in this model. ”
For her part, the leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), Dominique Anglade, describes as “worrying” the way the Coalition futur Quebec (CAQ) works.
“It’s a bit of panic on board,” she said at a press briefing. They realize that they don’t know how they are going to achieve their goals. ”
“The fact that the Prime Minister has a list with specific names and that he brandishes a kind of“ I have names ”is threatening, it is the Premier of Quebec. It’s worrying, ”she adds.