Dubé reform adopted under gag order | “It’s day 1 of the transition”

(Quebec) It is now done. Christian Dubé’s imposing health reform was adopted under a gag order early Saturday morning. Employees of the health network will experience “significant changes” in the coming months, warned the minister.

“It’s a beautiful day, it’s day 1 of the transition which is beginning and which will lead to the transformation of our large health network,” rejoiced Minister Christian Dubé on Saturday morning.

After a night of debate in a special session, Bill 15, which aims to make the health and social services network more efficient, was adopted around 5:15 a.m. Saturday. Prime Minister François Legault was on hand for the final adoption vote, which ended with 75 votes in favor, 27 votes against and no abstentions.

Christian Dubé can therefore turn to the next step: the creation of Santé Québec, a brand new state corporation which will be responsible for the entire operational aspect of the Ministry. Santé Québec will also become the sole employer of the health network. The minister also wanted to address his first words to health workers, with whom the government is still negotiating a new employment contract.

The decision to use the gag order was made on Friday. It occurs in a context where the popularity of the Legault government is crumbling according to the latest opinion polls and it is still seeking to reach an agreement with the 600,000 state employees. The Interprofessional Health Federation of Quebec (FIQ) — the largest nurses’ union — deplored the use of this exceptional measure on Friday.

The first version of the voluminous Bill 15 contained some 1,200 articles. Hundreds of amendments were tabled by Minister Dubé during parliamentary proceedings, and again this week. There were therefore still more than 500 articles to adopt, including several concordance articles.

Create Santé Québec

Mr. Dubé, who spent the entire fall in parliamentary committee studying the legislative text, now explains that he will have more time to return to the field and manage network emergencies. He admits that he is already excited about the idea of ​​forming the future Santé Québec team. “The most interesting part for me of setting up this team,” he said in the press scrum.

The Press has already reported that the Minister of Health wants to recruit “top guns » from the private sector to lead the new agency and that he is ready to put competitive salary offers on the table to attract candidates, even if it means going beyond the standard public sector remuneration framework. On Saturday, Mr. Dubé confirmed that the nominations should be published in early January.

A transition committee towards the creation of Santé Québec is in place. The new entity must be created six months after the law comes into force. The minister is therefore aiming for spring to achieve this.

A “long night”

The night was “long” according to the opposition while parliamentarians were only able to adopt around fifteen articles during the five-hour block of detailed study. The tone was set when Mr. Dubé did not agree to a prioritization of the articles to be studied proposed by Liberal MP André Fortin. The opposition therefore refused to consent to the Department’s deputy ministers being able to intervene.

This had the effect of slowing down the work since Mr. Dubé had to constantly refer to his team for answers to questions about the amendments. Normally, deputy ministers and lawyers can intervene to clarify technical elements of the bill.

“We were in judicial history and it was particularly difficult for the minister to answer questions from the opposition,” lamented solidarity deputy Guillaume Cliche-Rivard. “Things didn’t go very quickly unfortunately, because it was a block that didn’t seem to be under control. Fortunately, the opposition was prepared and there were corrections and a lot of amendments,” he said.

“I have no problem saying that there are many technical elements in the law that I do not know,” defended Mr. Dubé on Saturday. “I have always worked the same way, I am a manager and when I need a lawyer or a doctor, I consult them,” he added.

A “demobilizing” reform

The Liberal Party for its part deplored that the minister’s reform will “demobilize” the network’s staff.

“We cannot afford that, if we want to improve what is happening in our emergencies, what is happening at the DPJ, in our CHSLDs, it takes more staff,” said MP André Fortin. “If we visit a picket line tomorrow, there will be signs against Bill 15 because it worries health care workers,” he added.

“It’s not very edifying what we’ve been treated to in the last few hours,” argued PQ MP Joël Arseneau.

This is the fifth gag order by the Legault government since coming to power in 2018. He used this measure to pass his bills on hydroelectricity rates, state secularism, immigration and reform of the structures of the school network.

With The Canadian Press