Bill to limit Quebec private health agencies passed

The bill to limit private health agencies was passed by the national assembly on Tuesday. All members present in the chamber voted in favour.

The long-term goal is to completely ban agencies as early as December 2024 for large centres like Quebec City and Montreal.

Most other regions will have until December 2025 to end the use of agencies.

"And that gives us time to make the link with the collective agreement negotiations that are going on in parallel," explained Health Minister Christian Dubé, during a press scrum at the national assembly.

In the meantime, the law will determine the conditions allowing the health sector to use the services of an employment agency. There is talk of a maximum fee. Fines of up to $150,000 are also provided for in the event of non-compliance with these conditions.

The minister explained that approximately 30,000 employees per year leave the health-care network, 10,000 of which are due to retire. He, therefore, hopes that good collective agreements will be negotiated with the unions in order to retain the other 20,000 employees in the network who leave for other reasons.

"There are many nurses who are interested in coming back. That's what I'm hearing. But they need to have good working conditions," said Dubé.

"Quebec is dependent on these external agencies, which provide public health establishments with personnel on demand, notably to make up for the labour shortage."

The use of independent labour costs the public network $960 million in 2022, an increase of 380 per cent since 2016, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

It represents 14.8 million hours worked, up from 4.8 million six years ago.

Consultations for Bill 15, which aims to make the health system more efficient, begin on Wednesday.

"If I look at the collaboration we've had from the opposition (...) I think it bodes very positively for the bill," the minister said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 19, 2023.