Minister Christian Dubé and the new CEO of Santé Québec Geneviève Biron, from the private health sector, were forced to leave an event in Montreal after demonstrators against the private health sector disrupted the opening speech.
Minister Dubé was giving the opening speech of the First Line in Health event, which is being held at the Palais des congrès, when around twenty demonstrators members of the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) appeared in the room with trumpets and whistles.
“No private health,” they chanted, sign in hand. The minister greeted them politely. “We didn’t know what time they were going to arrive, but there you go! », Launched Mr. Dubé. Security quickly evacuated the minister from the stage, as did the new CEO of Santé Québec who was attending her first public event since her appointment on Monday.
The organizers finally asked the participants to calmly leave the room. The event was able to resume after around twenty minutes. The minister wanted to complete his speech.
“We respect the right to demonstrate. We are currently carrying out major change management in order to offer Quebecers a strong public health and social services network,” Minister Dubé declared on the social network X after the event.
It’s a baptism of fire for the new CEO of Santé Québec, Geneviève Biron, who was present at the event. The “top gun” of the health network has held various positions within Biron Groupe Santé, a family business. Mme Biron notably set in motion the “largest network of medical imaging clinics” in Quebec, Imagix.
Since then, she has founded Propulia Capital, a capital investment platform that “participates in the growth of start-up companies”, particularly in health and life sciences.
His arrival has also raised eyebrows among the opposition in Quebec and among the unions who fear seeing increased recourse to private health care. “It’s something, it’s even more subtle that they want to privatize the entire network, that worries us a lot,” declared the second vice-president of the Central Council of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM-CSN), Arianne Carmel-Pelosse.
Against private health
“We are against the privatization of the network, here it is precisely an event which advocates a little privatization. We wanted to give Mr. Dubé a book by Anne Plourde,” said M.me Carmel-Pelosse. It was the book Santé inc: Myths and bankruptcies in private health.
Moreover, the work was given to the minister’s team, confirmed an organizer of the event.
“We also wanted to show that we will not give up, so that the health network is truly public for everyone,” adds Mme Carmel-Pelosse.
The event Front line in healthwhich is held Thursday and Friday at the Palais des Congrès, brings together hundreds of players in the health network.