After decades of broken promises and aborted reforms, still believing in the possibility of providing Quebec with an effective health care system requires a very big leap of faith.
We have reached the point where simply making a commitment to it opens the flank to the accusation of trying to deceive the population. The opposition parties were unanimous in decrying the “refoundation” plan presented Tuesday by the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, seeing in it both a reneging of the promises made in 2018 and an attempt to fool Quebeckers once again during the next election campaign.
Six months before the election, we cannot ask the opposition to applaud, but Mr. Dubé himself recognizes that it is no longer a question of ensuring that every Quebecer has access to a doctor family, as promised by the CAQ, but rather to a health professional, be it a doctor, a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist, a psychologist or other.
Even better, he now feels there is no need for a family doctor. Without the need to see it at the slightest discomfort, it is certainly better to have one. The minister will have to explain why this is possible elsewhere, but not in Quebec.
Interdisciplinarity is undoubtedly an excellent thing, and the professionals concerned have reacted positively, but there is currently a lack of personnel who would ensure the success of the new Access Window, and the prior transformation of the method of remuneration of physicians is far from complete. to be done.
If it is true that the pandemic has had the effect of a whiplash, the iron will have to be struck while it is hot. Above all, the force of inertia inherent in any system should not be underestimated. The director general of the FADOQ network (Fédération de l’âge d’or du Québec), Danis Prud’homme, had the right formula: “The minister will have to do a sprint, not a marathon”.
Mr. Dubé said that previous governments had lacked the necessary courage to implement the recommendations of the countless reports that he himself drew inspiration from. It is also that priorities change rapidly in politics. Jean Rochon had his legs cut off in the middle of the “ambulatory shift” when Lucien Bouchard had decided that achieving the zero deficit was more important than anything.
In reality, the credibility of the plan rests less on its content, which remains imprecise in many respects, than on the confidence inspired by its promoter. Last October, a Léger poll indicated that Mr. Dubé was by far the minister whose population had the most favorable opinion.
Relatively discreet until he inherited Health in June 2020, he quickly became the figurehead of the Legault government. We will never know if he would have done better than his predecessor Danielle McCann during the first wave of the pandemic. Nothing assures that he would have understood more quickly the danger of a massive displacement towards the CHSLDs of the elderly who were hospitalized.
Nevertheless, his arrival immediately gave the impression that a solid hand had finally taken the helm. Anyone else would have suffered seriously from the humiliating setback to which he had to resign himself twice after threatening to suspend the workers health who refused to be vaccinated. Rather, we praised his sense of responsibility.
The Prime Minister has proven to be a remarkably effective communicator during the pandemic, but Mr. Dubé’s managerial talents and reassuring presence have greatly contributed to maintaining adherence to health measures. He is part of the select group of ministers who can be assured of keeping the same post in a possible second term.
While the Minister of Health will play an important role for the CAQ during the next election campaign, he also bears a heavy responsibility to society as a whole. He must be aware that, in the minds of a large number of Quebecers, he may represent the last chance given to the health care system inherited from the Quiet Revolution.
Mr. Dubé is accused of wanting to open the door more to the private sector. There is undoubtedly a risk, but it could be much worse if the population came to the conclusion that after so many failures, the public system is no longer reformable and that only massive privatization can guarantee it access to healthcare. .
In the absence of tangible progress in the near future, many could well be seduced by the speech of Éric Duhaime, whose party wishes to see the private sector broaden its field of intervention and encourage the use of private insurance.