Opposition slams CAQ after party backtracks on promise to build 2 mini-hospitals
During the 2022 provincial election campaign, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party promised to build two mini-hospitals — one in Montreal's east end and the other in Quebec City.
The party has now backtracked, opting instead to build two geriatric clinics.
The move has opposition parties accusing the CAQ of breaking a key election promise and improvising when it comes to improving access to health care.
Meeting with reporters on Wednesday, Health Minister Christian Dubé touted his government's revised project.
"It falls in line with our priority of improving access," Dubé said. "One of the issues is access to our emergency rooms, especially considering our aging population. So this is an action that is very targeted."
Some parts of the CAQ's plan remain unchanged.
The two geriatric facilities are still expected to be privately run and offer services reimbursed by medicare. The government hopes those facilities serve as a model that could be replicated across the province.
Sonia Bélanger, the provincial minister responsible for seniors, said the clinics would provide "a geriatric approach" to minor emergency care.
The CAQ also says patients will be able to stay overnight, if needed.
Dubé also specified that one of the clinics could be located in the wider Capitale-Nationale region, not necessarily Quebec City.
Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau said building geriatric facilities is not the most efficient way of improving health-care access for the province's elderly population. (Sylvain Roy Roussel/CBC)
'Promise things, and not deliver'
Marc Tanguay, the interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party and the leader of the Official Opposition at the National Assembly, said the CAQ's announcement amounts to another broken promise and shows a "lack of vision."
"One of the trademarks of that government is to promise things and not deliver and always finding excuses and people to accuse to justify their own failure," Tanguay said on Wednesday.
On Wednesday morning, Vincent Marissal, the Québec Solidaire MNA for the Montreal riding of Rosemont, who's also his party's health critic, chided the province's health minister for what he felt was a lack of clarity and detail in the government's plan.
"Now it's a geriatric clinic but it's not really a clinic and not really a hospital. There will be staff there, the lights will be on," Marissal said sarcastically during question period at the National Assembly.
"Will the minister abandon this bad idea?"
Marissal also said he's worried that privately run facilities will take health-care workers away from the publicly run facilities already struggling to have enough staff.
Parti Québecois MNA Joël Arseneau said caring for the elderly should be the priority — not building private facilities.
"Do you need the concept of a private mini-hospitals to take care of the elderly? Absolutely not. It's always been the public sector that takes care of the elderly." Arseneau said.
During the 2022 election campaign, the CAQ said the mini-hospitals would be open as of 2025. On Wednesday, a spokesperson for the health minister said that same timeline applies for the revised plan.
