Quebec doctors, nurses criticize Legault’s health-care legacy

One day after Quebec Premier François Legault’s resignation, health-care workers are criticizing his track record on the province’s health system.

Doctors and nurses are accusing the outgoing premier of mismanagement, saying that led to overcrowded emergency rooms and exhausted staff.

“Our state is worse right now (than when Legault first took office), regrettably,” said family doctor Michael Kalin. “We have more patients without a family doctor. We’re missing more than 2,000 family doctors. We have more than a million-and-a-half Quebecers without a doctor.”

Kalin says the government’s push to centralize the health-care system pulled power away from front-line workers in making decisions in a crisis.

“What we have now is a system that is being managed from Quebec City, which is really unrealistic,” he said. “Because if we have an outbreak of flu at a small institution in Côte Saint-Luc, instead of it being dealt within Côte Saint-Luc, instead of it being dealt with in Snowden, it’s now being dealt with 250 kilometres away.”

“We saw that during COVID, people died when decisions were being deferred.”

Kalin says Quebec doctors want a leader willing to think beyond the election cycle.

“In the last quarter-century, we’ve seen the PQ, the Liberals, the PQ and the CAQ all fail on the health-care file.”

His frustration was echoed by the FIQ nurses’ union, which represents roughly 80,000 workers who walked off the job in 2023 demanding better working conditions and pay.

“For too long, Mr. Legault has tried to manage health care like a business, relying on administrative indicators and symbolic projects rather than concrete measures to protect patients and support staff,” the union said in a statement. “We hope that Mr. Legault’s successor will be able to make the necessary decisions to tangibly improve the public system.”

Things are unclear as to who that successor will be as the party prepares for a leadership race, and whether a new CAQ leader can overcome the significant deficit in the polls to have an impact come election day.

“We don’t need somebody who’s gonna give us more of the same. We actually need a vision for a better health-care system,” said Kalin.

Political analyst Karim Boulos feels any candidate tied closely to Legault will face an uphill battle.

“If you’re part of the existing caucus, part of his inner circle, and then you take over, you can’t simply say, ‘oh, that wasn’t my idea,’” said Boulos.

“A success for the CAQ at this point will be to stop the bleeding and elect 15, 20 individuals to at least have party status.”

Among the ministers in Legault’s cabinet, one name has surfaced recently: Economy Minister Christine Fréchette.

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Speaking to reporters Thursday, said she’s still thinking about whether or not to throw her hat in the ring.

“I am considering the party leadership and we will be reflecting on that in the coming days,” she said.

“I will talk with colleagues, also with my family.”

Fréchette received her first endorsement earlier Thursday morning by Cybersecurity Minister Gilles Bélanger.

He also said it would be best for her to be crowned leader so that the party could avoid a leadership race.