Sonia Bélanger succeeds Christian Dubé as Health Minister
Posted December 19, 2025 9:00 am.
Last Updated December 19, 2025 1:26 pm.
Sonia Bélanger succeeds Christian Dubé as Minister of Health.
Bélanger retains responsibility for Social Services and Seniors. The MNA for Prévost also remains responsible for the Laurentians region.
“I am very honoured by the trust the Premier has placed in me. The challenge is gigantic and I feel capable of meeting this challenge,” she said, once sworn in.
The appointment comes the day after the dramatic departure of Dubé, who not only resigned from his position as minister, but slammed the door on the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) to sit as an independent.
In a lengthy message posted on social media, Dubé, who had served as Minister of Health since 2020, expressed his disappointment that parts of his Bill 2 were being abandoned.
The agreement reached with the Quebec Federation of General Practitioners (FMOQ) “essentially maintains the status quo” on governance issues, he lamented.
After an initial laconic reaction, Premier François Legault again took up his pen Friday morning to react to the departure of this heavyweight from his government.
“This is another tough blow to take,” he admitted on the social network X.
“Christian Dubé informed me that he was resigning from his position. (…) He also announced his intention to sit as an independent MNA so as not to be a distraction for the government.”
“Politics is tough, on a human level. When you are premier, the interests of Quebec and Quebecers must come first,” wrote Legault.
The Premier, however, staunchly defended his decision to have personally “taken back control” of negotiations with doctors.
“As Premier, I judged that we had gone far enough and that it was time to reach an agreement with doctors to avoid further damaging the health system,” he argued.
“So I took back control of the negotiations (…) with the help of France-Élaine Duranceau so that we could focus on the important changes that needed to be made to improve services to citizens.”
This is the first time Legault has admitted having to exclude Dubé from the talks.
The void is growing around Legault. The adoption of Bill 2 under closure, and the ensuing crisis, also led to the departure of his friend and minister Lionel Carmant.
In her new role as Minister of Health, Bélanger will notably have to amend Bill 2 so that it reflects the agreement reached with family doctors.
First elected in 2022, Bélanger is a trained nurse.
Before entering politics, she had notably held the positions of CEO of the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l’Île-de-Montréal and Director General of the CSSS du Sud-Ouest-Verdun.
– With information from Patrice Bergeron
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
