MONTREAL - Another prominent voice in the Quebec health care scene has joined the chorus of opposition to a plan to remove the Lachine Hospital from the McGill University Health Centre.
Former longtime Quebec health minister and current Liberal leadership candidate Philippe Couillard said that nothing good will come of the plan.
“I have a big fear that if it happens, the Lachine Hospital could go back into the troubles that they knew a few years ago,” he said.
Before joining the MUHC network, the hospital had trouble recruiting doctors and was on the brink of closing and such a scenario cold recur, according to Couillard.
He said that the decision is also causing unnecessary friction.
“The Parti Quebecois is very divisive and tends to divide people along linguistic lines,” he said.
Another former MNA and current political observer echoed Couillard’s views.
“This is a subtle example of how the PQ can gradually erode our community’s institutional infrastructure without going in front of the National Assembly,” said Robert Libman.
Last June, a small group of language hardliners protested what they called the anglicization of the hospital.
But the PQ said that the plan is not to do with language.
“It's in the realm of what is the status of the hospital, what is its raison d'etre,” said Jean-François Lisee, minister responsible for Montreal.
