The Solidarity Health Coalition is calling on Quebec Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, who will address members and partners of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (CCMM) on June 13. We warn: the health network is not for sale. These conferences offer him, unsurprisingly, an opportunity to rally the private sector and, thus, further vampirize the public network by falsely claiming to save it. The new management team at Santé Québec, whose strong links come from the business community, is in our eyes an eloquent demonstration of this.
For our coalition, the government’s intentions are clear and aligned with the financial interests of the CCMM. However, the privatization and commercialization of our public services which have been taking place for more than 20 years have left citizens with increasing accessibility problems. Meanwhile, questions and solutions from civil society remain ignored.
We have the right to know what the minister and the government plan to do with our public health system. Why don’t they formally commit to consolidating our public network as a priority, the only one able to ensure equitable access to care and health services and to intervene adequately in the context of a health crisis?
Remember that despite the arrival of the Santé Québec agency, Minister Dubé retains responsibility for determining the priorities, objectives and directions of the health and social services network. Furthermore, during the study of bill no 15 in parliamentary committee, all amendments and all proposals aimed at preserving and strengthening our public network were ignored. The minister refused to allow the text of the law to provide for the following elements:
- prioritization of the service offering of public establishments by Santé Québec;
- right of the Quebec population to free health and social services;
- inclusion of the principles of accessibility and universality of services;
- granting sufficient resources to public establishments to achieve their objectives;
- maintenance and development of public expertise by Santé Québec.
Even more worrying, the minister refused to enshrine in law that Santé Québec is non-profit. Is it because the minister plans to sell our health data? Does he wish to implement new service pricing? Will it allow the billing of services by private partners who will have to pay contributions to Santé Québec so that it subsequently pays dividends to the government, a bit like Hydro-Québec must do? Isn’t this in the role of a state corporation? Are new public-private partnerships being considered? We demand answers to our questions.
The less Quebec adequately funds its public network and the more it opens the door to the private sector, the less we have access to effective care and the more our collective bill increases. If the minister does not make this equation, let him know that civil society has made it and that more and more citizens are also aware of it.
The health and social services sector must not become an economic development strategy to the detriment of the health of Quebec citizens. The minister asks us to blindly believe in the effectiveness of the private sector in health, which has never been demonstrated. For civil society, as long as the minister does not position himself differently, he is allowing the private health sector to maximize its profits as a merchant of disease.
Mr Dubé, you were not elected by the chamber of commerce. Such a way of doing things is totally undemocratic. It’s time to clarify that Santé Québec is not for profit!