Verbal swelling often masks the thinness of the argument. A centralization never seen, a power trip of bureaucrats, the wet dream by Gaétan Barrette… We cannot say that the opposition parties got to the bottom of things in their reactions to the mega-bill on health presented this week, nor that they sinned by excess of class.
It was probably quite embarrassing for Christian Dubé to be dubbed by his Liberal predecessor, who became the Bonhomme Sept Heures of Quebec politics, but the health network has become such a nightmare that it is hard to believe that his reform could make things even worse.
The pandemic has demonstrated the confusion and inefficiency of the current structure. Even after the investigations of the commissioner for health and well-being, then of the coroner Géhane Kamel, we still do not manage to understand how we could arrive at such a mess in the CHSLDs.
Prime Minister Legault translated the general feeling well by asking: “Does anyone think that, if we change nothing, it will work? The opposition would be very ill-advised to give the impression of favoring the maintenance of the status quo. Although it’s not a normal reflex in politics, there are times when it’s better to be part of the solution than part of the problem.
That said, we should not believe that the creation of the new Santé Québec agency will solve all the problems, starting with the one that is the source of all the others: the labor shortage.
A similar agency has existed in Alberta since 2008 and the shortage of nurses is as glaring there as it is here. Recognition of seniority throughout the territory will no doubt encourage their mobility, but it will not increase their number.
Alberta’s example will not reassure those who fear that it could serve as a scapegoat for the government in the event of a crisis. With Alberta’s Conservative voters unhappy with COVID-19 health measures, Premier Danielle Smith fired all of Alberta Health Services’ board members last November.
To use a familiar example, Mr. Legault spoke of a “Hydro-Santé”. Are we to understand that, in the event of a new pandemic, it is the CEO of Santé Québec who would appear alongside him during daily press briefings, in the same way as that of Hydro-Québec , André Caillé, had become inseparable from Lucien Bouchard during the ice storm? Would the Minister of Health become as invisible as Guy Chevrette, Minister of Natural Resources in January 1998?
Where Gaétan Barrette can legitimately claim to have served as an inspiration, it is in the desire of his successor to demand more from medical specialists, as he himself had wanted to do with general practitioners, before having the rug pulled out from under feet by Philippe Couillard.
The Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec was quick to respond to Mr. Dubé’s project by denouncing the “confrontational attitude” of the Legault government and its desire to “evade the negotiation process”. However, experience teaches that what the Federation calls its “fundamental right” to negotiate essentially consists in imposing its views by exercising a form of blackmail to which all governments have finally yielded. Mr. Dubé probably has no desire to play in a revival of this old film.
Like the general practitioners facing Mr. Barrette, the specialists are offended that they are put in the dock by implying that they want to work only where and when it suits them. It’s boring, because that’s what Mr. Dubé is doing when he recalls that the 11,000 or so specialists share the tidy sum of 9 billion each year, while 800,000 patients are still waiting for an appointment. -YOU.
Whether general practitioners or specialists, physicians are still among the most trusted professionals. Leger’s latest barometer, dated February 2022, placed them in sixth place, with a confidence rate of 94%, tied with farmers, behind firefighters, paramedics, nurses, pharmacists and airplane pilots. . Deputies and ministers ranked 45th, with a rate of 41%.
However, a distinction must be made between trust and esteem. Everyone recognizes the competence of doctors and you have to trust them when you need care. By dint of always demanding more, they have however lost the halo that has surrounded them for decades. The good doctor Jérôme des Beautiful stories from the pays d’en haut ended up being confused with Séraphin.
Popular judgment will be decisive in the coming showdown. Mr. Barrette can always denounce Philippe Couillard’s lack of political courage, but he himself quickly alienated public opinion with his abrasive manners, while Christian Dubé enjoys unprecedented popularity for a Minister of Health.
Even if his action plan is very nebulous for ordinary mortals, it nevertheless appears to be the last chance to get a network on the verge of collapse back on its feet.