The health reform will not lead to a confrontation with the unions in the network, assures Minister Christian Dubé, contrary to the claims of his predecessor, Gaétan Barrette.
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“There will be no world war,” commented the Minister of Health in response to Mr. Barrette’s remarks in an interview with the daily La Presse. I’m not a confrontational person. I’m much more of a collaborative person. I have proven it in the past. »
Christian Dubé must officially unveil his reform on Wednesday aimed at creating the Health Quebec agency. From now on, it will be responsible for managing the daily activities of the health network, while the ministry will continue to give the main directions.
But in the same breath, Quebec wants to review the union organization to reduce the collective agreements from 136 to only 4. Medical specialists will also have to provide greater care for patients, in particular by sharing evening shifts.
Important but necessary changes, judge Christian Dubé. “I think Quebecers know it, that we need a change, people recognize that the status quo is not acceptable,” he said.
In his interview with La Presse, Gaétan Barrette supported the main lines of the Dubé reform (which he presents as the logical continuation of his restructuring), even if he foresees resistance on the ground. “Listen, I am going to take the support of all Quebecers,” commented Mr. Dubé, despite the unloved legacy of his predecessor.
Concerns
But for the opposition parties, Gaétan Barrette’s enthusiasm does not bode well.
“Me, to see Gaétan Barrette applauding a health reform, it worries me a lot,” said the spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, at a press briefing in parliament on Tuesday morning.
“I don’t know if it was in the communication plan, he used ‘third world war’. But he claps with both hands so much that his hands are red. That’s Gaétan Barrette. I can’t wait to see the other experts join in,” quipped PQ MP Pascal Bérubé.
On the Liberal side, they seemed somewhat embarrassed by the exit of their former colleague. The interim chief, Marc Tanguay, did not want to say whether or not he had witnessed the fact that Philippe Couillard would have put spokes in the wheels of his Minister of Health to prevent him from completing his reform, as he affirms it.
The Liberal leader confined himself to remarking that during the Liberals’ time, “the indicators were going in the right direction”. “The CAQ, in five years, what we see is the rise of all the indicators in the opposite direction,” he slipped.
Nevertheless, it is for the government, and not for the PLQ, that the exit of Gaétan Barrette is perhaps the most embarrassing, suggested Mr. Tanguay.
“I don’t know if Gaétan’s comments do more harm to us, or to the reform that is coming from François Legault,” he said.
With QMI Agency