Quebec’s opposition parties renew calls for COVID public inquiry after 10,000 deaths

MONTREAL _ Quebec Premier Francois Legault says he is considering imposing more restrictions during spring break week to prevent people from gathering and reversing progress on reducing COVID-19 infections.

New measures would only apply for the week of March 1, Quebec’s spring break, and could include roadblocks and changes to the nighttime curfew in certain regions, he told reporters.

“We cannot gather with other families and people over 65 cannot babysit children,” Legault said, regarding the break period, adding that any changes would be announced in the coming days.

His comments came as health officials said they identified the South African variant of the novel coronavirus for the first time in the province _ two cases located in Abitibi-Temiscamingue. They said they have identified 11 total cases of new variants, including eight cases of the U.K. variant and one that is under investigation.

Public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda said the province is able to sequence eight per cent of positive tests to detect new variants and plans to increase that to 15 per cent. Quebec is also screening for mutations of the virus, particularly those associated with the three known variants, Arruda said.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the province over the weekend surpassed 10,000 COVID-19-related deaths, Legault said he wanted “to offer my sympathies to the families of those we’ve lost.”

Earlier in the day, Quebec’s opposition parties renewed their calls for a public inquiry into the government’s management of the pandemic.

Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade said Quebecers need to know why the province has so far accounted for nearly half of the country’s deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus.

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said an inquiry is the only way to shed light on the tragedy, noting that Quebec is reporting 116 deaths per 100,000 residents, compared to 45 in neighbouring Ontario.

Legault said the province’s health and welfare commissioner, Joanne Castonguay, is already investigating the province’s management of the pandemic and has broad powers to do her work.

“We already have an independent commission,” Legault said, in response to the opposition. “She started her job already and we plan to receive a final report by next September.”

Anglade, however, said Castonguay’s mandate _ studying long-term care centres during the first wave _ is too narrow and that she doesn’t have the tools to conduct an independent public investigation.

Health officials reported 826 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday and 32 more deaths attributed to the virus, including five in the preceding 24 hours. Officials said hospitalizations dropped by 29, to 940, and 145 people were in intensive care, a drop of 15. The province said it administered 2,816 doses of COVID-19 vaccine Monday, for a total of 262,594.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2021.