The rural areas of the Outaouais have the unpleasant impression of being in the politicians’ blind spot. The government of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) has certainly recognized the chronic underfunding of the health region. But far from the city, we hardly feel the effects.
February 2020. The obstetrics department at the Pontiac Hospital in Shawville is closing its doors for lack of nurses in sufficient numbers to operate. We then talk about a six-month hiatus. However, here we are in September 2022, and it still has not resumed its activities.
“It’s dragging on,” laments Denis Marcheterre, spokesperson for Action santé Outaouais, which has been campaigning for years to improve services in the region. “Specialized nurses are hard to find. Already there is a shortage in Gatineau, and there is an even greater shortage in rural regions like Shawville. »
The small municipality of 1,500 inhabitants is an hour’s drive west of Gatineau. On the spot, people swing between resignation and anger. “Pregnant women, they have to give birth in Gatineau, Ottawa or Pembrooke [en Ontario]. By the time they go, the baby may have already come out,” says Lorna Philippe indignantly when she passes by in the hospital parking lot. ” This is unacceptable. Before his retirement, Mr.me Philippe was a beneficiary attendant at the hospital. She now volunteers by driving seniors to their appointments.
“Yes”, that will influence his vote. But how ? She laughs that her “heart swings” between two candidates, but that “they make promises to us; afterwards, we no longer exist”.
Mme Philippe speaks French with a strong English accent. Predominantly English-speaking, Shawville was colonized by Irish Protestants in the early 19th century.e century. On its website, it is said that they “went through dense forest and insect-infested swamps until the second day when they came to a clearing where a spring gushed from the ground.”
Today, majestic willows dominate the land along the hill leading to the hospital. A neat establishment of orange bricks which has nothing miserable about it. Butme Philippe already fears the day when he will eventually close. “If this continues, we will have nothing left in the Pontiac, they will close everything. If you let a case pass, it’s over. »
The feeling of being forgotten and neglected by Quebec is strong in the region. The presence of the Ontario border has given rise to a pernicious dynamic. In the Outaouais, when services are lacking, we go to Ontario. Thus, rather than investing in Quebec, the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) reimburses the Ontario government for its good services to the tune of $100 million on average per year. Meanwhile, healthcare workers are lured by the better salaries on the Ontario side. And so on.
Delay recognized by Parliament
In 2018, a group of leaders, including former Gatineau mayor Maxime Pedneault-Jobin, convinced Parliament to pass a motion acknowledging that the Outaouais has “fallen significantly behind in recent years in terms of public health funding, in education, higher education and culture”.
Did that do anything? “No,” laughs Mr. Marcheterre of Action santé Outaouais. “We have to keep pushing, we have to maintain the momentum. »
In addition, the injustice experienced by the Outaouais has lost its unique character since the Laurentians also claim structural underfunding.
At least the region has listened more to politicians since the 2018 election campaign. The CAQ then criticized the Liberals for having taken the Outaouais for granted for decades in addition to promising the region a new hospital. The speech carried, and three of the five ridings elected caquistes: Mathieu Lacombe in Papineau, Robert Bussières in Gatineau and Mathieu Lévesque in Chapleau.
Two Liberals were spared: Maryse Gaudreault in Hull and André Fortin in Pontiac. The poster of the young deputy is also in full view in front of the Shawville Hospital, the situation of which he has often denounced in the Blue Room in recent years. Mr. Marcheterre expects him to be re-elected, which the polls also suggest.
One thing is certain, no one takes the voters of the Outaouais for granted anymore, rejoices Mr. Marcheterre who, on the day of the interview, was invited to meetings with people from the CAQ and the PLQ interested in his demands. “Gatineau is starting to have political weight, but the rest of the Outaouais, not,” he points out, however.
And yet, there would be much to do. The average income of people in the Pontiac and the Vallée-de-l’Outaouais ($24,000) is well below the average for the region ($27,000), which is lower than that of Quebec (nearly $30,000) . The same goes for life expectancy, which hovers around 77 years while the Quebec average is 81 years, according to a study by the Institute for Socio-economic Research and Information (IRIS) published in 2021.
From the outset, the Gatineau hospital “will help, but it’s for ten years and by then, we have time to die several times”, drops Mr. Marcheterre, mockingly. “In the meantime, something has to be done. The CISSS has a good plan to improve services in rural areas, particularly with CLSCs and home care. But you still have to be able to finance it. “Is the CISSS going to be taken to negotiate with Quebec once again? »
Two objects of pride missing
Of course, all is not so gloomy. Patients in rural MRCs in the Outaouais benefit from a better ratio of family doctors and nurses per inhabitant than people in Gatineau, according to the IRIS study. But when it comes to specialist care, it’s the opposite.
This is how it is in Shawville, just like in Thurso, in the east of the region, where The duty. The mayor of the city, Benoît Lauzon, argues that we must stop demanding a “catch-up” for the region. “Because if we just continue to talk to the government about what we didn’t get, we are not moving forward, but the other regions are moving forward. The government has recognized the delay? Let him settle it. »
Crossed in the village, Danielle Laberge says that in June, the paramedics drove her for nothing to the emergency of Saint-André-Avellin, 30 kilometers from her home. Because staff did not have the equipment to X-ray her back injury, they then transported her by ambulance to another facility in the area. “They made me wait an hour and a half to tell me that I had to go to Buckingham hospital. 43 kilometers further.
This young retiree is doubly affected by the lack of specialized services, because her husband has cancer at a very advanced stage. “You have to be careful, because we are far from the hospitals. […] When we call the ambulance, there’s a long wait, and you never know what’s going to happen. The couple resides in Lac-Simon, a resort area, far from the city. But for how long ? “Are we getting closer to the hospitals? We hesitate. »
The duty crossed Mme Laberge and her husband in Thurso, on the terrace of a snack bar where no one was interested in the election campaign. Thurso is known for two things: Guy Lafleur and the Fortress factory that dominates the city, two objects of pride that have recently disappeared.
The cellulose factory closed its doors three years ago. The multi-storey complex dominates the city. No less than 300 workers earned their living there. In a town of 3,000 inhabitants, the impact is enormous, explains the mayor, Benoît Lauzon “Several families have had to move over the past three years. As for the municipality, it lost a third of its land revenue.
A difficult factory closure
On site, everyone is directly or indirectly affected by the company’s rout. The owner of the snack bar worked there, as did his brother Jacques, whom he met there, who is very jaded by politics, but thinks that François Legault “should” come back so that we can see what he is capable of doing when he there is no longer a pandemic.
Danielle’s son is also a Fortress veteran. Like the others, he found himself a job, but the salaries and benefits are not the same, notes Danielle. “He managed to find a job somewhere else, but it’s on call and away from home. »
The closing of the factory casts a shadow over everything else. No more groups of workers who fill the terrace at lunchtime, laments Suzanne Lalonde from the kitchen where she prepares fries. “We have no more people. At the same time, the snack bar is understaffed to serve them. Like the only restaurant in the area that had to close. “It’s just us and then the Subway next door,” says Sophie, who takes orders from customers of the snack bar.
For the mayor, who is also prefect of the MRC, the revival of the plant is crucial for the survival of the forest industry in the region. And yes, it is an election issue. “When Gaspésie experienced a fisheries crisis and the economy was not good, the government invested in the region, and today things are going well. We, in the Outaouais, are the forest industry. We are 60 municipalities in the region, and there are 60 forestry workers.”
However, he is reluctant to assess the work of the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, in the Fortress file. In particular, the government loaned the company $8 million to maintain the plant’s infrastructure while waiting for a buyer who is slow to commit.
Efforts followed with the greatest skepticism on the terrace of the snack bar. The parties promise too much money, thinks Danielle, who also doubts the effectiveness of the subsidies granted to the revival of Fortress for ten years. “It’s not money we want. But give me favors! Services everywhere, not just in big cities. »