State checks and missions

From the update of the Minister of Finance, Eric Girard, we have mainly retained the checks from Quebec, as an anti-inflation shield, and special assistance for seniors.

Hard to do otherwise, members of the Coalition avenir Québec spent the end of the last election campaign reminding voters that if they wanted to receive their cheque, they had to vote on the right side. It wasn’t subtle and it wasn’t meant to be.

The problem is that while Quebec may be headed for a recession—the possibility, according to Mr. Girard, has gone from a one in three chance in the fall to a one in two today—we can only see a degradation of the essential missions of the Quebec state.

One can also wonder whether this money will not deprive the government — if the recession were to be just a little deeper than expected — of resources to carry out its essential missions.

First health. We are not going to blame the government or Minister Christian Dubé for the triple crisis affecting this sector, namely the COVID-19 epidemic which is resuming; respiratory viruses, especially in children, which explode; and the seasonal flu which would be more virulent than usual.

The fact remains that the entire health system seems permanently on the verge of implosion. And Minister Dubé seems to have run out of solutions: he has come to the point of publishing an open letter saying that he must be given more time to put his health plan in place.

Maybe, but in the meantime, the “compulsory overtime” continues for nurses. Stupid Managers Suspend Employees for ‘Theft’ of Lowly toast with peanut butter. In short, we still do not see any promised changes that would be likely to give some breathing space to overworked employees.

And to change the subject of conversation, Minister Dubé returns with an old idea, to send an invoice to patients indicating how much their hospitalization cost.

We did this shortly after the creation of the health insurance plan in the 1970s and it was abandoned on the sly after a few years because it did not generate the expected recognition.

This is because Quebecers understood very early on that they were paying for a health insurance plan through their taxes and that it was anything but a gift from the government, as Mr. Dubé unfortunately implied.

Education is another state mission that is struggling to recover from the pandemic. We cannot blame Minister Bernard Drainville, who has just arrived.

But the Auditor General harshly criticizes the Department. According to her, he does not have the data that would allow him to say whether Quebec students have fallen behind during the pandemic.

In short, the Ministry has not held the school service centers to account, which seem to have retained all the shortcomings of the old school boards without having provided the savings or other expected benefits.

When the second-largest budget of the Quebec state has no meaningful accountability, we can certainly wonder what is happening in schools.

Another essential mission of the State, with a much more modest budget: justice. Again this week, the Chief Justice of the Superior Court said, in a real cry from the heart, that the system “holds together with duct tape”.

Of course, the Superior Court is under federal jurisdiction and Ottawa appoints the judges. But it is Quebec that is responsible for the administration of justice.

“Our justice system has reached its limits and presents alarming risks of slippage or disruption of services,” said the President of Quebec, Catherine Claveau, during the election campaign, asking that the budget of the Ministry of Justice.

And for good reason: according to the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, some 50,000 cases are at risk of being abandoned due to unacceptable delays, as provided for in the judgment. Jordan of the Supreme Court.

Administrative errors — such as sending documents without requiring a signature — have meant the cancellation of nearly 5,000 lawsuits.

While the system is cracking up everywhere, Mr. Jolin-Barrette is engaged in a showdown with the Chief Justice of the Court of Quebec, Lucie Rondeau, over the appointment of some forty judges and the increase in time devoted to deliberations.

No matter who wins or even who is right, the reality is that we need more judges at the Court of Quebec and an increase in budgets, because delays are constantly increasing and no less than 500 employees left last year, leaving the courts with even less support.

The government will soon have to deal with things less politically profitable than sending checks and begin to concern itself with the great missions of the State. Because it becomes obvious that the system is cracking everywhere.