Representatives of Quebec's five major political parties all agreed Monday that mandatory overtime, referred to as TSO in Quebec, should be abolished.

It was a moment of rare, mid-campaign political unanimity, and on such a central and polarizing issue as health.

Representatives were gathered for a debate hosted by the FIQ, a major Quebec healthcare workers' union.

It's no surprise that the TSO issue took such a prominent place in the debate; the FIQ represents some 76,000 health professionals, mainly nurses, who are those most affected by mandatory overtime.

In addition, all parties favoured imposing fixed limits for the number of patients per health worker -- but not all with the same enthusiasm and not at the same pace.

Reservations were expressed by both outgoing health minister Christian Dubé and Conservative candidate Dr. Karim Elayoubi.

The pair were concerned that adopting a law that imposes ratios, as advocated by the Liberals, the Parti Québecois (PQ) and Québec solidaire (QS), could increase the need for mandatory overtime.

THE ROLE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR

It's the role of the private sector in healthcare that demonstrated party differences.

The Conservatives intend to establish a parallel private system accessible to those who can afford it.

Christian Dubé, meanwhile, focused his attention on private agencies, which offer better working conditions than the public sector. Dubé said he would tighten the screws on agencies and counter their attractiveness by offering better conditions to nurses in the public sector.

This issue of working conditions was central to the discussion. All parties agreed that they needed to be improved, and, at the end of the meeting, FIQ President Julie Bouchard again pointed to TSO as the first element to be addressed.

Dubé of the Coalition Avenier Quebec (CAQ) was the only invited candidate who is not a healthcare worker. In addition to Dr. Elayoubi, QS delegated its candidate in Mont-Royal-Outremont, Dr. Isabelle Leblanc to the debate. The Liberal Party had clinical nurse specialist Byanca Jeune representing them, a candidate in Pointe-aux-Trembles. The Parti Québécois was represented by Sylvie Tanguay, assistant head nurse in pediatrics, who is a candidate in St. François in the Eastern Townships.

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on Sept. 19, 2022.