Health. Once again, it is health that worries Quebeckers and that bothers the government.
Like all his predecessors, François Legault is breaking his teeth there. He got elected on the promise of improving access to a family doctor, but with less than a year to go to the end of his term, the wait has increased.
But unlike previous governments, Mr. Legault is not paying the price.
In the winter of 2020, the Caquists collected about 40% of the voting intentions. A little more than their election results.
When the pandemic struck, Mr. Legault was receiving half of the support. This rate fell following the CHSLD Herron scandal. But a few weeks later, it was back to almost 50%.
Since then, it has remained stable, at such a high altitude that it avoids turbulence.
This consistency is astonishing. It is normal for people to rally behind their leaders in times of crisis. However, Quebec is elsewhere. The early solidarity turned into collective fatigue. These include the dead, patients awaiting surgery, exhausted employees on sick leave and those suffering without access to mental health care. And with the 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 diagnosed on Friday, it is not over …
The polls measure this dismay. Leger noted at the beginning of December that the Caquist government had an Achilles heel: health.
Respondents were satisfied with work in economics, culture, language, public finance, education and even in the environment.
What about the pandemic? Three quarters of those polled judged the “general management” of this crisis to be “fairly good” or “very good”. But the more we go into detail, the less positive it is.
Caquistes receive an unfavorable rating for their management of the pandemic in CHSLDs, for the living conditions of the elderly, for access to family physicians and for the state of the health network.
This is not likely to change by the end of the term.
The Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, introduced two bills this fall to notably create a central appointment platform and authorize the sharing of patient data.
Mr. Dubé wants to give himself the tools to reduce the wait for a family doctor. It is indeed a first step, but it will not allow us to move forward very quickly.
In the last campaign, the Caquistes promised that all Quebecers would have access to a family doctor. However, the list of people registered at the waiting desk has increased. Other commitments which have not yet been fulfilled: the end of “compulsory overtime” and the modification of the method of remuneration of general practitioners.
Despite everything, Mr. Dubé remains popular with his peers, as shown by our list of elected officials of the year. And 60% of Quebecers have a good opinion of him.
How to explain this contradiction?
My hypothesis: because they say to themselves that the problem preceded the election of the Caquists, that the pandemic made it worse and that the other parties would not do much better. That the organization of work and the shortage of manpower will take time to resolve.
In other words, Quebecers are used to being disappointed …
What also helps the caquists is that the promises of the parties for 20 years follow and resemble each other. Basically, there is a consensus: the working conditions of nurses and the rest of the nursing staff must be improved, the shift towards home care must be accelerated, the method of remuneration of doctors must be revised and doctors must delegate more tasks for other professionals.
Party proposals differ in details, of course. But in health, the debate is not very ideological. It is more about trust. Who do you trust to tame the health pachyderm?
And on this, Mr. Dubé is banking on his great success: the vaccination campaign – with an effective website! – and the implementation of the vaccination passport.
Mr. Legault must be delighted to have replaced Danielle McCann after the first wave of the pandemic.
We had a reminder of that at the coroner’s office inquest. Mme McCann and his former deputy minister Yvan Gendron were playing with words. They mostly seemed to skate to protect their reputation and that of the machine. That is the whole problem.
The coroner’s office and the Ombudsperson have already shown the confusion that reigns in this hyper-centralized network.
People can forgive decision-makers for making mistakes in the fog of the crisis. But it tolerates less those who still endorse the dysfunctions of an opaque and sclerotic network. After all, “accountability” was meant to be a caquist value …
Mr. Dubé admits his mistakes more easily, and he is less patient with his officials.
I understand the opposition to calling for a public inquiry into the management of the pandemic. This would keep this embarrassment for the caquists at the heart of the news.
Basically, however, I am divided. The Québec Ombudsperson has already submitted a comprehensive and damning report. And the health commissioner, the coroner’s office and the auditor general will soon add their own findings. This is starting to do a lot … Except that as long as we have the impression that ministers and senior officials are not telling the whole truth, the demand for a public inquiry will remain legitimate.
However, I doubt that will save the opposition. Because for the liberals, solidarity and PQ, criticizing Mr. Legault will not be enough. Their challenge is to convince that they would do better. And this challenge remains unresolved.