Quebec health minister to table 150 amendments to health-care reform bill

The clause-by-clause review of Health Minister Christian Dubé’s major health-care reform, Bill 15, resumed at the National Assembly Monday afternoon.

After hearing from several concerned parties in hearings last spring, the committee on health and social services will now continue to review the bill’s nearly 1,200 articles. If it’s adopted, the bill would make several changes to the province’s health-care system, including the creation of a new agency, Santé-Québec, that would oversee day-to-day operations.

Opposition parties have accused the health minister of passing the buck with this new agency, and fear it could lead to the further centralization of the health-care system, as well as a lack of accountability.

“We have to be realistic. The bill is tabled. It will be adopted eventually by the majority government, so this agency will be created,” said  Parti-Québecois Health Critic Joël Arseneau.

The Quebec Liberal party, meanwhile, is calling for amendments in four main areas, namely in internal governance strategies and accountability, as well as in the protection of local users’ committees in hospitals and health-care facilities.

“People turn to their users committees,” said Quebec Liberal Health Critic André Fortin. “Not everything has to come to Quebec City, not everything needs to be looked at by the central government.”

For his part, Health Minister Christian Dubé says he’s open and ready to listen to these concerns. That’s why he plans on tabling some 150 amendments to his bill as early as Tuesday morning.

“I think I’m listening and I’m listening not only to the opposition, but all the parties that are involved in the network,” he said.

The health minister also stressed Bill 15 is only part of his overall health-care plan, describing how ongoing negotiations with the nurses’ union will also play a crucial role.

“We are working in parallel on other issues — and collective agreements is one of them,  access by the doctors — and I can name you a bunch of things that we presented in our health plan more than a year ago that we’re still working on,” he said.

Dubé still has hope he’ll be able to work collaboratively with the opposition members and have the bill adopted by the end of the fall. In the meantime, the clause-by-clause review is expected to continue into next week.

1:52 Critics continue to slam Quebec’s health reform