quebec — mired in controversy right to the end, the government’s overhaul of the health-care system was voted into law in the wee hours of saturday morning.
with the coalition avenir québec government cutting short debate by using the rules of closure, mnas voted the bill into law at 5:15 a.m. after pulling an overnighter for the debate.
the final vote was 75 for, 27 against. all caq mnas present at that hour voted in favour, all opposition mnas voted against. present for the vote, premier françois legault rose and gave his embattled health minister, christian dubé, a bearhug.
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they said their work committee before the bill was adopted revealed a string of errors and omissions, including one that appeared in a surprise last-minute amendment that appears to endanger minority rights to services in a language other than french.
dubé corrected it, but the mcgill university health centre and the quebec community groups network say minority rights could still be in peril because santé québec has too much power.
working on the law since march and anxious to move on to other things, dubé insisted he will be proved right.
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the bill creates a state-owned agency, santé québec , with a president and board of directors operating in much the same way as hydro-québec. dubé has said he will hire “top guns” from the private sector to run santé québec.
addressing another defect in the system exposed by the pandemic where the government discovered many institutions such as the chsld herron had no local managers responsible for making things work, the law means each of quebec’s 1,540 health institutions, from clscs to hospitals, will have their own boss.
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