2023-05-05 15:11:28
(Montreal) Initially encouraged by the desire expressed by the Minister of Health “to listen to all the partners, as well as the people in the field”, the grouping of Quebec Doctors for the Public Regime (MQRP) says now dismayed that he was not invited to the consultations on Bill 15.
In a press release sent Thursday, the group founded in 2005 claims to have been “in all important discussions on the organization of health care” for more than a decade. However, despite “several requests through the official channels of the commission” as well as public outings, no invitation was sent to him to discuss with elected officials in order to improve the future “Act to make the health and services system more effective social.
The Canadian Press was able to confirm that two of the three opposition parties in the National Assembly had asked the commission to invite the group. Québec solidaire even says that it once again offered to host the MQRP following the withdrawal of another participant.
On Twitter, the Parti Québécois spokesperson for health, Joël Arseneau, deplores the absence of these doctors and blames Minister Christian Dubé who “chose to dismiss them”.
The Liberals had not included the group on their initial list, but claim to have supported the request to participate.
In the office of Christian Dubé, it is pointed out that the invitations to the consultation were determined at the end of a process of negotiation between the leaders of the four parties represented in the National Assembly.
The Minister still leaves the possibility of a parallel path floating around. “We are going to take the time to read the memoir of this group, like all the memoirs of those who could not be received in committee. We will also be happy to meet them in order to hear their ideas,” reads the statement sent by his office.
Hundreds of doctors and medical students are members of the MQRP. As the name of the group says, it is mainly the defense of the public nature of the network that challenges these health professionals.
They believe that “the indisputable choice […] to make more room for private healthcare” will have profound and lasting impacts on the network. These doctors therefore wish to be welcomed in person to discuss what they consider to be “a fundamental issue” of Quebec society.
Following the public release last month of a vast collective of community organizations called “Riposte au Plan santé”, of which the MQRP group is a part, the office of Minister Christian Dubé said that it was reaching out to the coalition and the invited to be heard in the consultations. However, it seems that the scope of this invitation is limited only to the filing of a brief.
As any other citizen can do, the group will submit a written brief, but the impact is not the same in the eyes of the Dre Camille Pelletier Vernooy.
“From experience, the great advantage (of being present) is that we can discuss. We can ask questions and answer questions not only from the minister, but also from other political parties in relation to the privatization of health care that we see in Quebec,” explains the woman who sits on the board of directors of MQRP.
The Dre Pelletier Vernooy adds that the members of his group are first and foremost “clinicians in the field” who are well placed to testify to “the immense long-term impacts” of an increasingly large place granted to the private sector in health.
“Studies, data, examples in other Canadian provinces have shown us that these are not positive impacts,” she says, listing access to care, equity and the exodus of workforce.
Bill 15 aims in particular to create the Santé Québec agency, a Crown corporation that will have the mandate to oversee the operations of the entire health network, while the department will retain the role of determining the orientations and budgets.
The special consultations on the bill, led by the Committee on Health and Social Services, must resume next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Professional orders and unions will then parade in front of the elected officials. In total, 38 groups will have been heard.
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