Clients of a Quebec City rehab centre are bitterly accusing Health Minister Gaetan Barrette of breaking his promise that the austerity program will not diminish healthcare.
Many of the clients of the Institut de readaptation en deficience physique de Quebec, which has seen its budget slashed by $3 million, showed up at the National Assembly in wheelchairs and with canes Thursday to complain about layoffs at the facility.
“I’ve been waiting two and a half years now for my house to be equipped with bars so who is going to be responsible if I fall and break my neck?” asked Chantal Bonneville, who receives treatment at the centre. "Why cut and hurt the already-feeble ones? You know that we already don't have much and you want to cut there."
The group has found a champion in PQ MNA Jean-Francois Lisee who said that it's clear that the austerity program is hurting health.
“The Liberal government has been saying for a year that all these costs, these cost-cutting measures would have no impact on service,” said Lisee, who acts as Social Services Critic.
Lisee said that the staffers cut included some who trained the sick to use the washroom facilities again and that those workers remaining are not equipped to perform the task. "Now they are telling them to wear diapers," said Lisee.
Government representative Lucie Charlebois said that many of the posts cut under the Bill 10 reorganization will be filled again.
Nine special educations are among 21 recent layoffs at the centre, while six therapists and two leisure technicians were also let go.
