The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, rejects out of hand the allegations from the Parti Québécois that the government made partisan appointments to the board of directors of Santé Québec.
Thursday morning, PQ MP Pascal Bérubé mentioned that the new president of the council, businesswoman Christiane Germain, was an acquaintance of Prime Minister Legault and “one of the founding members of the Coalition Avenir Québec” (CAQ).
Mme Germain was part of the group of people that Mr. Legault brought together in September 2010 to define the founding text of what would become his party.
“Ask the Prime Minister what his criteria was for appointing a presidency. I would like to hear him on that,” MP Bérubé said on Thursday.
However, the response came from Minister Christian Dubé. The role Christiane Germain played in the story “did not at all” play a role in the decision, he said. “I know Mr.me Germain for 30 years. It has nothing to do with the CAQ. »
“Partisanship has nothing to do with it,” he reiterated. As proof, he said, the government also appointed pharmacist and former MP Diane Lamarre, “who is a PQ member”, to this council.
Focus on human resources
If Christiane Germain was chosen, it is in particular for her skills in labor relations and customer satisfaction in the hotel network, according to the minister. The co-president of the Germain hotel group has “been able to build a company that is renowned for its way of working with employees, of working with customers who want to return, who feel at home when they are traveling” , he argued.
Minister Christian Dubé had also noted similar qualities in the president and CEO of the agency, Geneviève Biron, when announcing her appointment. “We are going to ask these people to change the culture, respect for employees, respect for patients. We are capable of doing that,” he said Thursday.
The board of directors of Santé Québec is made up of 15 people. In addition to the three women mentioned above, its members include governance expert Gaston Bédard, engineer by training Hélène Chartier, businesswoman Anna Chif, administrator Daniel Gilbert, financial analyst Jean-Luc Gravel, the former president of the Special Commission on the Rights of Children and Youth Protection Régine Laurent, the engineer Michel Lessard, the geriatrician David Lussier, the manager Seeta Ramdass, the former deputy minister Lise Verreault and the Doctor Stanley Volant.