The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, refuses to modify Bill 15 in response to the comments of former prime ministers on the fate that its reform will reserve for research centers such as the Montreal Heart Institute.
In a press scrum on Wednesday, Mr. Dubé indicated that university hospitals and institutes needed to “work better together”. He said he had already presented “strong” amendments in response to the grievances raised by former prime ministers.
Tuesday, Philippe Couillard, Pauline Marois, Jean Charest, Lucien Bouchard, Pierre Marc Johnson and Daniel Johnson wrote to François Legault to convince him to modify Bill 15, which should notably create on the Santé Québec agency. The new structure, they wrote, undermines the autonomy of organizations renowned for research and philanthropy.
The former prime ministers had already contacted Minister Christian Dubé on this subject in recent months, but the amendments he presented on Tuesday were not to their satisfaction.
On Wednesday, the Minister of Health emphasized all the “respect” he had for them. “At the same time, I need to find a balance, particularly for the patient, the patient who is told “you are not in the regional bank” when he is on the island of Montreal. That, I find unacceptable. »
PLQ and PQ support the requests
On Wednesday, the Liberal Party of Quebec and the Parti Québécois urged Mr. Dubé to give in to the demands of the six former heads of the Quebec government.
“Christian Dubé must listen to them,” declared the Liberal MP for Pontiac, André Fortin. “I’ve been sitting here for nine years, and I’ve never seen six prime ministers […] from different political groups […] join forces to send a clear message that reform does not satisfy. »
“We are not trying to repair what is working,” argued the PQ MP for Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Joël Arseneau. “The bureaucratic machine wants to absorb university centers, research institutes which operate with the aim of centralization. »
Only Québec Solidaire has not taken up this cause. “We will not take advice from Philippe Couillard when it comes to managing the health system,” said co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois. “Health financing should not be driven by private interests. »