Christian Dube walks back on promises to 'gradually wean' health network away from private sector

Health Minister Christian Dubé at question period on Oct. 22, 2024. (The Canadian Press/Jacques Boissinot)

Health Minister Christian Dubé, who said Tuesday morning that he wanted to “wean” the healthcare system off the private sector, has backpedaled.

“I made a mistake with the term,” he told journalists at the National Assembly. “I should have looked it up in the dictionary first. I want to be very, very clear: the private sector will remain complementary to our public system. We need them to serve our patients.”

During the period question, he repeated “we want private, we want private.”

Earlier that morning he said “I think we're very close to being able to gradually wean ourselves off the private network,” during a two-hour questioning session requested by Québec solidaire (QS) MNA Vincent Marissal.

“Yesterday, I was listening to Dr. (Mauril) Gaudreault of the Collège des médecins, who said that the important thing is to stop this growth. I agree 100 per cent,” he had said.

“We're going to be there in the next few months: to be able to gradually wean ourselves off the private system, which will always remain complementary, but perhaps not at the level it is at the moment,” he added.

He also announced that he was considering imposing maximum fees on the private sector and putting an end to the “to-and-fro” of doctors between the public and private sectors.

He said that three per cent of doctors in Quebec are in private practice, and “before we get to four per cent, five per cent or six per cent, (...) we have to say ‘That's enough.’”

“At three per cent, we should be able to correct the situation fairly quickly,” he said.

Dubé later said he wanted to create a “social debate.”

‘Pyromaniac firefighter’

Pleasantly surprised, the Opposition applauded this “major change of direction,” with QS’s Marissal pointing out that the Legault government had itself fed the private sector “monster” with “growth hormones.”

The government has also committed to building two private mini-hospitals in Montreal by 2022.

“The minister is a pyromaniac firefighter,” said Parti Québécois MNA Joël Arseneau. “We open the door wide to the private sector, we praise it, and today we're saying maybe we've gone too far,” he summed up.

Liberal health critic André Fortin noted that during the interpellation Dubé seemed to surprise members of his own team.

“MNAs spent almost the entire session suggesting all the benefits of the private healthcare system, (...) while Minister Dubé claimed he wanted to wean the state off that dependency,” he said.

“We really have the impression that Christian Dubé has surprised his own party,” he added.

Arseneau compared the announcement to the Legault government's recent flip-flops on immigration. “We can't help but think there's a fair amount of improvisation,” he said.

Notwithstanding clause

On Sunday, Dubé announced his intention to have new doctors be required to practice in the public system for a certain number of years.

Premier François Legault hinted on Tuesday that the government could use the notwithstanding clause to achieve this objective.

The debate comes as the Collège des médecins on Monday set out its own principles regarding private healthcare, calling for “an immediate halt to the expansion of the private healthcare sector.” 

This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press Nov. 5, 2024.