The three opposition parties said on Tuesday that they were concerned about the suspension without pay of two alleged whistleblowers by the Integrated Health and Social Services Center (CISSS) of the North Shore due to a “breach of confidentiality”. “.
Revealed Tuesday by The dutythis punishment inflicted on two educators of a rehabilitation center of the Direction de protection de la jeunesse (DPJ) in Baie-Comeau is “completely unacceptable”, affirmed the PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, in a press briefing .
The employer claims to have identified two sources of a report on the shortcomings in the assistance to young people in difficulty by spying on the emails of three employees.
“We consulted their emails without their knowledge,” said Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon. We have taken time in management to punish people who enlighten the public on how public funds are used. »
Such gestures harm journalistic work by creating “an environment of repression” for those “who sound the alarm”, he added.
The PQ leader asked for a “prompt and public” reaction from the government regarding this punishment from the CISSS de la Côte-Nord. He wants Quebec to legislate to better protect whistleblowers.
“Tacitly, there, what the CAQ is doing is endorsing these gestures by saying: We control our image before taking an interest in the problem, he argued. And, if they don’t act, that’s what they tell the population. »
“If we don’t have these eyes and ears on the ground, how are we going to know, we, as a population, the horrors that are happening? For her part, questioned the co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire Manon Massé.
For his part, the Liberal interim leader, Marc Tanguay, considered the situation “excessively worrying”. “We’re going to have to shed some light on that,” he said.
If it is necessary to improve the An Act to facilitate the disclosure of wrongdoings relating to public bodies to better protect whistleblowers, “we will do it,” added Mr. Tanguay.
More details will follow
With Marco Fortier