Régine Laurent, everyone knows her. Former president of the nurses’ union, president of the commission on the reform of the DPJ, commentator on TVA.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Andre LeBon?
Almost no one knows André LeBon, or almost. Yet he is the Wayne Gretzky of child protection in Quebec.
He was the lieutenant of M.me Laurent to the commission on the DPJ, the vice-president. He has worked in children’s aid for 40 years. In the middle, it is a reference. When there was this runaway crisis in Laval, he was the one who investigated and made recommendations.
In short, there was nothing surprising that André LeBon was appointed to the commission chaired by Mr.me Laurent: he is a recognized and respected expert, who knows the network and who had already made public appearances over the years to denounce the failings of the system.
It is this man that Katia Gagnon confessed to in the interview that you can read in this issue of The Press.
And he does not like what he sees at all regarding the follow-up given by the government of François Legault to the report he co-signed with Régine Laurent, with Bill 15. He even dares to name the T-word: tablet, as in Our-risk-report-of-ending-up-on-a-tablet. He is surprised and saddened to see that the government plans to set up future “workshops” to reflect on certain recommendations of the Laurent report…
“Honestly, 10 million later, 4000 people who have spoken, and we are going to do construction sites? Are we going to talk about this again? With whom ? How long ? Do you feel discouraged? Yes, I am discouraged! We are told that we have not forgotten it, that it will happen. If it’s not done in the spring, when will it be done? On the other side of the election? I am more than discouraged, I am desperate. »
In one week, this is the second warning shot fired towards government reform, from the former members of the Laurent commission. President Laurent herself, last week, criticized the government for not having clearly identified the principle of the interests of the child, in the preamble of the law, as envisaged by Bill 15.
For meme Laurent, the interest of the child is THE consideration that must guide all the law and the resulting interventions, not ONE of the considerations.
This notion of the interests of the child – as opposed, for example, to the interests of the parents – which should guide all actions in aid to children, was at the heart of Ms.me Lawrence.
That she is worried about the place given to this fundamental concept in Bill 15 should worry us all.
Then, this week, a few days after the release of Mme Laurent, it is his VP LeBon who adds to it, in a much less diplomatic way than his president. When we know how well Mr. LeBon knows the system like the back of his hand, that should worry us even more than the exit of Mr.me Lawrence.
André LeBon knows the government machine, its faults and its bureaucratic inertia. He knows how the machine can eat away at the best ministerial intentions, how old ways have a way of killing innovation and ambitions for reform.
I was reading Mr. LeBon’s remarks and I had a feeling of déjà vu: a crisis that becomes a social debate, calls for the State to act, a commission of inquiry that turns into a valve for name systemic ailments…
And once tabled, the report of the Commission which ends up being collected on a shelf, the main part of its recommendations having been little or badly applied…
That was Bouchard-Taylor.
Will the report of the Laurent commission suffer the same fate?
If André LeBon fears it, allow me to fear it, the tableting, me too. It would not be the first time that a report has been shelved, once the anger and amazement of Quebecers have subsided. It would not be the first time that the beautiful promises are diluted in the mammoth of Health and Social Services.