(Ottawa) The day after Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet was sworn in, the Bloc Québécois denounced the creation of a federal ministry of mental health.
Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet sees it as unacceptable interference in a field of jurisdiction exclusive to the provinces.
The new Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions has been entrusted to Carolyn Bennett, former Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations.
It is Quebecer Jean-Yves Duclos who inherits the main Ministry of Health, the one who will be involved, among other things, in negotiations with the provinces on the increase in transfers.
For months, Prime Minister François Legault has reminded the federal government that health is a provincial jurisdiction and warns that it will not accept any conditions attached to the increase in health transfers that it is demanding.
Tuesday afternoon, Minister Bennett insisted on the conditions that accompany the multiple Liberal commitments made during the election campaign.
According to her, putting conditions on federal money is “the only way to build a national mental health strategy.”
Wednesday morning, Mr. Blanchet was concerned to see himself “systematize interference in the jurisdiction of Quebec” that is health.
Moreover, the Bloc leader is much more welcoming to Steven Guilbeault, the new Minister of the Environment. He proposes to meet with him to assure him of the Bloc’s collaboration for any initiative that will ensure an accelerated fight against climate change.