Outaouais rallies against Health Minister’s reforms, Coalition leads charge
Tashi Farmilo
In a determined effort to combat the controversial Minister Dubé health reforms and the privatization of health care and social services, the Health Solidarity Coalition is organizing a National Week of regional actions. With the support of its mobilized members, the Coalition aims to deliver a clear message to the government: "The private sector is anything but healthy!" Activities will be held across almost all regions of Quebec, where various organizations will voice their opposition to policies aimed at privatizing and centralizing health services. The Coalition seeks to raise awareness about the threats to accessibility and quality of care and to pressure the government to halt the privatization of the public health network.
The Coalition argues that the Quebec government is misguided in promoting the private sector as a solution to the public network's accessibility issues. Each new private clinic or hospital drains public resources, worsening access problems in the public system. "Health and social services personnel do not grow on trees; each worker who moves to the private sector is one less worker in the public sector. We cannot afford to let the private sector monopolize our precious and rare public resources," said Sophie Verdon, co-coordinator of the Health Solidarity Coalition. The Coalition also points out that government subsidies to private companies for healthcare result in higher costs for Quebecers, as taxpayers will ultimately bear the expense to cover the significant profits inherent in private medicine.
Geneviève Lamarche, co-coordinator of the Health Solidarity Coalition, highlighted that around half of health-care and social services in Quebec are already privatized, leading to inefficiency and higher costs. "These are generally less efficient and more expensive. The for-profit sector also leads to serious gaps in care, as demonstrated in private seniors' residences during the pandemic. Even Minister Dubé had to gradually ban private agencies to counter their disruptive effects on the network," she said. Verdon added, "The Coalition cannot accept this new reform that will further centralize and privatize the public health network. Improving access to care and services should involve promoting the public network and its staff. For-profit companies simply do not aim for the same objectives as those of the State and public health."
In the Outaouais region, the Regional Mobilization Collective is at the forefront of this resistance. They planned a rally at Buckingham Hospital on May 31 to highlight the region's specific challenges. Decades of underfunding and centralization have led to the degradation of health-care services and an exodus of health professionals to neighbouring provinces. Instead of addressing the health-care crisis in Outaouais through public reinvestment, better working conditions, and improved accessibility to public health services, the Quebec government has chosen to pursue privatization and centralization. This approach diverts resources and health-care workers from the public system, threatening the right of Outaouais residents to receive universal, free public health services.
The Regional Mobilization Collective of Outaouais, which includes community organizations and unions such as TROCAO, TROVEPO, APTS Outaouais, the central council of the National Unions of Outaouais-CSN, and Action Santé Outaouais, is participating in the national week of actions under the banner "Le privé, c'est tout sauf santé!" By mobilizing and raising their voices, the people of Outaouais hope to influence government policy and ensure that public resources are directed towards enhancing the public health care system, rather than subsidising private profits.
Quebec is seen as a champion of private medicine, with 642 doctors practising exclusively in the private sector compared to just 12 in the rest of Canada. This stark disparity underlines the Coalition's argument that the privatization of health-care resources exacerbates existing problems. The opening of private facilities is not the solution to long waiting times in the network; it will aggravate them. The Santé Québec agency's centralized decision-making fails to account for the diverse regional realities, leading to a looming fiasco.
Photo caption: The Health Solidarity Coalition is leading rallies in Outaouais against Dubé's health reforms and the privatization of health care, emphasizing the detrimental effects on public health services.
Photo credit: Courtesy of Action Santé Outaouais
