Quebec has spent nearly $15 billion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, including six billion in contracts concluded by mutual agreement, reveal accountability documents tabled Tuesday in the National Assembly.
The Minister of Health and Social Services presented a series of reports on the first two years of the pandemic at the Blue Room. We learn in particular that between March 13, 2020 and March 22, 2022, Quebec concluded a grand total of 4,500 “over-the-counter” contracts thanks to the powers of the state of health emergency.
Among these, an agreement of 433 million dollars for an order of rapid antigenic tests in January, or 165 million to assume the services of “independent labor” in June 2021. In total, the government of François Legault calculates to have used half of the sums intended for the “over the counter” to obtain personal protective equipment and more than a billion for the purchase of “medical supplies”.
The Public Health Act establishes that the government may, as long as the state of emergency lasts, “incur such expenditures and enter into such contracts as it deems necessary”. It can thus circumvent the call for tenders process set out in the Act, even if the value of the contract exceeds the legal thresholds.
Since last Wednesday, the state of emergency is no longer in Quebec. The adoption of Bill 28 “aimed at ending the state of health emergency”, however, makes it possible to extend the duration of certain contracts concluded during the pandemic until the end of 2022.
Seven billion a year
Documents filed Tuesday also confirm that Quebec spent $15 billion to “defeat the COVID-19 pandemic” during the first two years of the health crisis. These funds were used, in particular, to the tune of $4.5 million to finance bonuses and incentives offered to network employees. Another 2.5 million made it possible to finance “measures of protection and control of infections”.
“During this difficult period marked by great uncertainty, the Government of Quebec has taken the necessary actions to deal with this crisis and protect the health of the population”, writes Minister Christian Dubé in the “event report”. that the Public Health Act undertakes to file within three months of the end of the health emergency.
In his budget tabled in March, Finance Minister Eric Girard predicted that the government would spend more than $24 billion to defeat the pandemic by the end of the 2022-2023 fiscal year. On Tuesday, Mr. Girard’s cabinet confirmed to the To have to that several expenses were still planned to manage the health crisis in the coming year. In particular to pay salary bonuses to caregivers.