Quebec community organizations send formal notice to Carmant and LeBel

The latest in a $10 million funding saga that has been going on for almost a year, the Table des regroupements provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles (TRPOCB) has sent a formal notice to the Social Services Minister, Lionel Carmant, and to Sonia LeBel, President of the Treasury Board.

The formal notice was sent on June 16, giving the TRPOCB 30 days to respond, but they say nothing has been received yet.

Minister Carmant’s office told The Canadian Press on Thursday that it would not comment at this time. Minister LeBel’s office did the same, pointing out that this is a judicial process.

The TRPOCB, which represents more than 3,000 autonomous community groups across Quebec, claims that there have been breaches of “legal, administrative and moral obligations in the allocation of public funds and in the recognition of autonomous community groups in the health and social services sector (OCASSS)”.

“We’re hoping to draw his attention, very directly, and that of Minister LeBel, President of the Treasury Board, to whom we see a role as overseer of the rules. After all, it’s the budget she allocates to the department, which a minister spends differently from what is agreed in the documents she herself has accepted,” explains Mercédez Roberge, coordinator of the Table, in an interview.

In the 2024 Quebec budget, $10 million was announced for the overall mission of the Programme de soutien aux organismes communautaires (PSOC) for all OCASSS. According to the organizations, this amount is insufficient to meet their needs.

The Coalition des Tables régionales d’organismes communautaires (CTROC) and TRPOCB later learned that Minister Carmant intended to distribute $1 million of this budgeted amount to community organizations through a channel other than the overall mission of the PSOC.

Minister Carmant allegedly claimed to have used this sum for organizations at risk of closure, says Roberge. According to the Table, the three organizations supported in 2024 had financial needs comparable to other OCASSS and were no more at risk of closure than the others.

CTROC and TRPOCB then took steps to recover the full $10 million for the overall mission.

In June 2024, organizations breathed a sigh of relief that, as planned, the $10 million budget would be allocated to the global mission component of the PSOC. But the situation changed on Sept. 10, 2024, when the organizations learned that the $1 million had already been distributed to three organizations.

“The three groups had major needs like the Table, as they did for the other 3,000. But the minister presented this […] as being to help groups at risk of closure. But that’s not true. And it still won’t be true in 2025. We know these three organizations, we’ve had conversations with [them] and our objective is not to criticize them, it’s to criticize Minister Carmant and Minister LeBel, who have their role to play and who created the parallel path,” denounces Roberge.

A ‘shock formula’ to prevent the same scenario

On Oct. 3, the Table and CTROC sent a joint letter to Minister Carmant speaking out about the situation. The two groups fear they are playing out the same scenario with the 2025 budget.

Minister Carmant reportedly hinted during the budget review that, like last year, he would keep a portion of the $10 million to be allocated to groups at risk of closure.

“A formal notice is a shock formula, we know, it’s the first time we’ve done it. It’s the first time we’ve felt we had to go there, because it’s the second year. After the first year, you might have thought it was exceptional. But after the second year, you say no, it’s going to become routine,” fears Roberge.

A month ago, Table leaders met with Minister Carmant to request that the entire $10 million from the 2025 budget be distributed for the overall mission of all OCASSSs.

The Table wants to prevent history from repeating itself before organizations cash checks. “We hope to prevent this, and we also hope for a reparation. Last year, the million that was distributed elsewhere must be returned to the budget to be distributed as part of a global mission,” pleads Roberge.

According to Table president Stéphanie Vallée, the Minister was justified in having to act in this way, since he had not obtained additional sums for his action plans. “Does the President of the Treasury Board really agree with this?” raises Vallée in a press release.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews