The former Minister of Health Jean Rochon, to whom we owe in particular the ambulatory shift and the Tobacco Act, died at the age of 83 years.
He died on October 16 “after a brief illness,” his wife confirmed to The Canadian Press.
Prime Minister François Legault said on Twitter Tuesday morning, when he had just learned of the news of the death, to have a thought for the relatives and the family of the former PQ minister.
“What sad news. He was a kind and brilliant man, ”he said.
Born in Montreal in 1938, Jean Rochon obtained a law degree in 1961, then a medical degree in 1966. He then continued his studies to obtain a master’s degree in public health in 1968 and a doctorate in public health from Harvard University. in 1973.
Mr. Rochon was first elected member of the Parti Québécois in Charlesbourg in 1994. He will head several ministries over the course of his career, notably that of Health and Social Services in the Parizeau and Bouchard offices in 1994-1998, from same as that of Employment and Social Solidarity.
He left political life in 2003.
Among the highlights of his career, we note the ambulatory shift in the provision of health care, the idea of avoiding hospital stays and instead favoring services at home or in CLSCs, for example.
He is also responsible for laws considered pioneering such as the law regulating the use of tobacco in public places, adopted in 1998, and the law on drug insurance, which came into force in 1996.
The opposition parties, like Mr. Legault, welcomed the departure of Mr. Rochon in the morning.
“My condolences to the family and loved ones of Mr. Jean Rochon, former Member of Parliament and Minister of Health,” wrote Liberal leader Dominique Anglade on Twitter, describing the former minister as “passionate about Quebec”.
The parliamentary leader of Quebec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, for his part spoke of a “prominent man in Quebec politics”. “We owe him the INSPQ (National Institute of Public Health) and the tobacco law. All my condolences to the family and loved ones of Jean Rochon, ”he wrote.
“This great man will have marked the history of Quebec by daring to attack the tobacco lobby and for having initiated the decentralization of the health system”, wrote the leader of the Parti Québécois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, also transmitting his condolences.
“Mr. Rochon had a significant impact on the lives of Quebecers, by contributing to the adoption of the tobacco law and the creation of the INSPQ”, for her part commented the outgoing mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, presenting him as a “proud Montrealer”.
Following his political career, Jean Rochon served as an associate consultant at the INSPQ and notably chaired the advisory board of the Canadian Foundation for Research on Health Services.
He was also until 2015 associate professor at the University of Montreal which awarded him an honorary doctorate. He was also professor emeritus at the University of Laval where he began his career in 1970.
Jean Rochon obtained several distinctions during his life. Among other things, he received the highest distinction from the Canadian Public Health Association, the RD Defries Prize, in 1994. A few years earlier, the Catholic University of Louvain, in Belgium, awarded him an honorary doctorate.
In 2015, he was decorated with the National Order of Quebec and won the Sustainable Health Distinction award from the Quebec Public Health Association.