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Quebec guarantees that the $900 million will be invested in health

Natasha Kumar By Natasha Kumar Mar20,2024

Québec guarantees that the $900 million will be invested in health

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The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, met the press Wednesday morning, in particular to discuss the agreement concluded by his government with Ottawa concerning the increase in federal health transfers.

The Canadian Press

The Legault government guarantees that the $900 million it obtained “unconditionally” from Ottawa will be invested in the health network.

< p class="StyledBodyHtmlParagraph-sc-48221190-4 hnvfyV">Tuesday, Quebec and Ottawa announced an agreement in principle on health that the Legault government immediately described as asymmetrical, without conditions.

Quebec will be entitled to $900 million per year for 10 years, which is equivalent to one-sixth of what it asked for. In return, it will share its health data with the federal government, data which was for the most part already public.

At a press briefing at the National Assembly on Wednesday morning, the Liberal opposition stressed that $900 million financed barely a week of activities in the Quebec health network.

The Liberal health spokesperson, André Fortin, was also concerned that the government would spend this sum differently, as it has already done in the past, particularly in the matter of transfers for daycares.

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We saw what [Prime Minister] François Legault did with other federal transfers. When he had transfers for daycares, he did not put that money in daycares, he put it in the consolidated fund, underlined Mr. Fortin.

The government does indeed intend to invest the entire amount provided for in the agreement for the health network, said the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, in the press scrum.

Yes, I spoke about it with the Minister of Finance to make sure that it was clear that it was unconditional, but it is certain that with the shortfall that #x27;we have compared to the 6 billion dollars, these are sums which will be invested, he declared.

This is because the needs are still acute, two years after the submission of Minister Dubé's Health Plan.

The greatest concern, on our side, […] is that we still see more than 12,000 people waiting for surgery for more than a year, reported Wednesday the parliamentary leader of Québec solidaire (QS), Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.

However, last year, Mr. Dubé committed to reducing this list to 7,500 in March 2024, then to 2,500 by December 31. He admitted on Wednesday that he will miss his first target, notably due to the strikes which took place last December.

Today' Today, we realize that it will not achieve its interim targets, and that the total number of Quebecers waiting for surgery, since the submission of its third [catch-up] plan, has increased, denounced Mr. Fortin.

The spokesperson for the Parti Québécois (PQ) in health, Joël Arseneau, also deplores the situation in emergencies , which has not improved: the wait on stretchers has increased to just under 17 hours, while last year the target was 14 hours, he said. -he said.

Mr. Dubé defended his results on Wednesday, claiming to have laid the groundwork towards fundamental changes in the health network. We had said a horizon of 2025. We need to have a little time to make […] changes, he pleaded.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116

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