After sitting all night, National Assembly deputies finally passed Bill 15 on health network reform early Saturday morning with a vote of 75 to 27.

The request of Health Minister Christian Dubé was therefore complied with. On Friday he said he was “tired” and was in a hurry to move on, stressing that his bill had already been the subject of more than 200 hours of scrutiny in the parliamentary committee.

At a press conference on Saturday morning, Mr Dubé expressed his delight at the passage of the bill and said he was convinced it would have a positive impact on patients in hospitals, something political parties strongly doubt.

In particular, the minister stressed that his reform will give Quebecers better access to specialists.

In addition, it is possible to receive treatment anywhere, regardless of your zip code, and if waiting times are unreasonable, it is possible to offer an alternative solution to another region or to the private network (free of charge).

“It is a great day because it is the first day of the transition that will begin and lead to the transformation of our large healthcare network,” explained Mr. Dubé.

He also wanted to reassure network employees who will see “significant changes” in the coming months. He committed to “explaining well” these changes, particularly what will happen to the Ministry of Health.

Specifically, Bill 15 creates the Santé Québec Agency, which will be responsible for coordinating network operations. The ministry will focus primarily on defining the main directions. Staff transfers are to be expected.

Santé Québec becomes sole employer; CISSS and CIUSSS are integrated into it. Union certifications will be merged. We are also introducing a unified seniority list that will allow staff mobility from one region to another.

Bill 15 is part of the Legault government’s desire to obtain more “flexibility” from the actors in the health network, most of whom are currently on strike until December 14 as part of the renegotiation of their collective agreements.

“ [Maintenant que le projet de loi 15 est adopté]“I will be able to return to the field, go to hospitals and take a little care of our employees,” the minister said.

Gag denounced

The opposition parties vehemently condemned the use of the gag order to pass this major healthcare reform. On Friday evening they were argumentative, demanding that the minister explain each of the articles or amendments he had adopted.

Quebec Solidaire (QS) parliamentary leader Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois was the last to speak out against the passage of the bill ahead of Saturday morning’s vote.

“It is a bad idea for our democracy, for our health system, for Quebec to impose the largest public service reform in Quebec history under a lockdown order. “This government has chosen confrontation,” he lamented.

According to QS MP Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, the government had suggested to the opposition that the detailed consideration of Bill 15 should be extended until next week, an implicit “admission” that there was still a lot of work to be done.

The offer was rejected, among other things, because it contained a deadline, that is, the government insisted that the work should be completed by December 15 at the latest, even though the 2,000 works had not yet been completed. Not all of them were fully examined.

“It was a long night. Until the last minute […]There were still several bugs reported […] in the few articles we were able to deal with. This shows that this bill was still highly perfectible,” said Mr. Cliche-Rivard.

Throughout the process, opposition members also complained about the minister’s inability to answer questions about large parts of his reform and the amendments he himself tabled.

Finally, they agreed to accept amendments en bloc in return for improvements in the bill, particularly regarding the autonomy of midwives, which explains the relatively short duration of the gag procedure.

“The 400 articles we didn’t have time to study […], what effect will they have? » asked Parti québécois en santé spokesman Joël Arseneau at a press conference on Saturday morning.

According to Quebec Liberal Party interim leader Marc Tanguay, Bill 15 will not improve patient care.

“It is a bad reform that will not solve the immense problems in access to health care. In Quebec there are emergencies everywhere and we could see people dying even in the emergency room and there was a connection with the delays,” denounced Mr. Tanguay.

This is the fifth gag order issued by the Legault government to force the passage of draft legislation since it came to power in 2018. Parliamentary work was adjourned until January 30, 2024.

To watch in the video