Contrary to the chorus of criticism addressed to him on Wednesday, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, believes that his bill on the end of the state of health emergency strips him of almost all his powers.
” I have no more ! he said in an interview with The duty at the end of the day. My powers are very limited. »
The chosen one then listed five. They are linked to the attraction and retention bonuses for caregivers, vaccination and screening, the hiring of employees through the JeContribue platform and the extension of telemedicine. “My powers […] are not generalized and will be very well defined in the bill, continued the elected official. If the opposition wants to show that it is complicated and that we have kept all the powers, they can say that, but the reality is quite different. »
Minister Dubé tabled his bill on Wednesday ending the state of health emergency. This is formulated in such a way that the Minister retains, until December 31, 2022, all the powers contained in the decrees and measures in force at the end of the state of health emergency – unless he decides to lighten or remove them.
“Masquerade”, “deception”, “denial of democracy”: the opposition parties and the unions denounced the bill, which in their eyes constitutes a means “to extend the mode of governance by decrees”.
Confusion over OTC
Bill 28 provides that contracts “still in force at the end of the state of health emergency and which are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of screening or vaccination clinics” remain in force until the end of the year. Contracts for the storage and transport of goods could be modified – in duration and value -, then “extended” for “a period of five years following the end of the state of health emergency”, is it he writes.
In an interview, however, Minister Dubé argued the opposite. “These contracts, if they were signed for up to five years, we will respect them. But we will not extend contracts, we will not sign other contracts. I don’t have those powers,” he said. Shouldn’t this be stated more explicitly in the bill? “If we need to clarify certain terms, we will,” he replied.
For lack of having included it in his bill, Minister Dubé also gave his “moral assurance” as to the fact that he would not conclude new contracts over the counter related to the health emergency. “In fact, we haven’t done any over-the-counter contracts for some time, even if the health emergency was there,” he also said.
Gold, The duty found that three over-the-counter contracts were concluded between March 3 and 8 under the state of health emergency. The value of one of them, intended for the purchase of slide scanners for digital pathology, amounts to almost 1.3 million dollars. Christian Dubé preferred not to comment on this specific contract since he did not know the details.
The famous decree 007
During the press briefing, the minister also declared that he could no longer use the ministerial decrees imposing working conditions on health care workers once he has signed the decrees marking their end. This is the case of the famous “Order 007”, which authorized health managers to suspend their employees’ vacations.
In a note sent to the network, the ministry writes that all measures related to this decree will end on April 15, 2022. But in practice, it is already “no longer used”, declared Mr. Dubé in a press briefing.
In an interview, he then admitted that a deputy minister had authorized the use of “Order 007” in recent weeks. “He tells me that he has accepted one or two in the last month,” admitted Mr. Dubé.
No “backtracking”?
Christian Dubé’s bill provides that he cannot “go back” if Quebec decides to withdraw a decree or an order – on the vaccine passport, for example.
However, in fact, Public Health has the power to impose the return of certain health measures, he then acknowledged. “She could even oblige him, conceded the minister. But I believe that at the moment, we are more in the notion of recommendation. »
The various health unions greeted the minister’s bill with disappointment and skepticism. ” From here [la fin de 2022], the government retains all rights to decide unilaterally what it wishes to keep,” indicated the Centrale des unions du Québec. A coalition of eight health unions expressed concern that the government “keep all its powers to decree as it sees fit the working conditions of the personnel of the health and social services network”, evoking a “denial of democracy “.
The Quebec Federation of Labor criticized Minister Dubé for “speaking out of both sides of his mouth” and for “pursuing the awarding of often huge contracts” for another five years in some cases.
The Parti Québécois was also concerned about the extension of the contracts. Liberal leader Dominique Anglade said she found the bill “appalling”, calling it a “masquerade”. Solidarity MP Vincent Marissal meanwhile declared that the bill was a “deception” and a “political maneuver”. “Nothing changes. The government has the same powers in its hands. He can agree to the same decisions,” he added.