Since his first election in 2015, Jean-Yves Duclos has remained rather discreet. At the Department of Families, Children and Social Development, then at Treasury Board, he was not on the front line. In Health, he quickly found himself at the heart of the permanent conflict between Quebec and Ottawa.
Prime Minister Trudeau was very clear on Tuesday during the presentation of his new cabinet: Canadians and Quebeckers expect results, which presupposes the setting of measurable objectives and, therefore, clear guidelines that the provinces will have to respect if they want to benefit from an increased contribution from Ottawa to the financing of health care.
The refrain is not new, but each passing day seems to strengthen Ottawa’s claims in the eyes of the population. And the war that the Legault government has declared on general practitioners, which is taking a worrying turn, is unlikely to improve things.
Either the Trudeau government is abusing a “spending power” that the constitution does not recognize, but when the search for a family doctor is akin to an impossible mission for 800,000 Quebecers, that the waiting lists get longer and a trip becomes necessary to find an open emergency room, we no longer worry about which level of government is responsible for health.
The leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, was indignant at the creation of a new ministry of mental health, “whose very vocation is an interference in the exclusive competences of Quebec and the provinces”. This is undeniable, but it is clear that despite the emergency plan of 100 million launched last year, there are still 19,000 adults and children on the waiting list and that the shortage of psychologists continues. to get worse.
Mr. Duclos’ predecessor, Patty Hajdu, who represents a northern Ontario riding, was ill-placed to lecture the Legault government – which reportedly shouted Quebec bashing – whereas a member from Quebec will not have to hesitate to tell the population that they deserve better than this obstacle course.
During the last election campaign, Mr. Duclos had not hesitated to say how badly he thought of the “third link”, the virtues of which the leader of the Bloc had suddenly discovered. “It irritates me that someone can say that it is something ecological, when it would have a substantial impact on the quality of the air, on the congestion, on the pollution”, he declared, inviting Mr. Blanchet to meet the citizens of his riding, ” very worried about the exit of new highways and new ramps in their living environment ”.
The new Minister of Health will have a good time asking how the Legault government can justify swallowing 10 billion in such a project, while he invokes the urgency of investing in health services to claim a blank check for ‘Ottawa.
It is written in the sky that Mr. Duclos will seek to break the common front of the provinces, which demand that the federal contribution go from 22% to 35% of the total cost of health services, an increase of 42 to 70 billion in the Canada Transfer. en santé (TCS), which would then be indexed. For Quebec, this would be an addition of $ 6.2 billion per year before indexation.
History teaches, however, how fragile unity is in this matter. In the interview he gave to Radio-Canada last Monday, Prime Minister Legault himself did not seem to be having many illusions. All the provinces are not so intractable in respecting their areas of jurisdiction, he agreed. His Ontario counterpart and main ally, Doug Ford, remains united… “for the moment”.
In 2017, as soon as negotiations got under way in earnest, the common front had disintegrated at an astounding speed, and the TCS hike was halved. It all ended with a high fivefelt good from Mélanie Joly to her colleague in Health at the time, Jane Philpott, in the middle of the House of Commons, under the wrath of Gaétan Barrette. Who knows, Mr. Duclos may be entitled to the same reward.
Of course, we could always give special treatment to Quebec, as Paul Martin had done in 2004, but Justin Trudeau does not seem to have any desire to give a flower to François Legault. Quebec may be a nation on paper, but it remains in its eyes a province like any other.