MONTREAL -- A day after a meeting between the province’s public health director and opposition parties, Quebec Liberal Party Leader Dominique Anglade said Premier Francois Legault was not made aware of the gravity of COVID-19 before March 9. 

Anglade commented on the chronology of events since January 2020, noting that on the 12th, Dr. Horacio Arruda said “if the virus leaves China, we are in trouble" -- which happened the next day. 

Arruda testified on Wednesday that he wrote a first “state of the situation” on Jan. 18, which must have made its way into the administration, he said. 

On Jan. 24, a meeting with civil security took place, but Arruda said he did not attend.

It wasn’t until March 9 that Legault was informed of the situation and that a crisis unit was created, Anglade said. 

“There is a real problem,” she said at a news briefing on Thursday. “How come the information wasn’t transmitted before that? It’s outrageous, honestly.” 

In the spring, the COVID-19 disease claimed nearly 6,000 lives in Quebec, which accounted for about 60 per cent of all deaths in Canada.

The Liberal Party is convinced that the government could have acted sooner, in particular to ensure the supply of personal protective equipment like masks, in sufficient quantities.

After all, by the end of January, British Columbia and Alberta were already placing orders for equipment, including masks.

The opposition also touched on Arruda's statement that he never recommended closing restaurants during the second wave -- rather, the decision was political. 

Arruda’s statement made some restaurateurs react. They were quick to share their anger with the media and demand responses from the government.

According to Quebec solidaire, Legault must apologize to the restaurateurs, whom he chose to “abandon” contrary to what was recommended by public health.

The parliamentary leader of the Parti Québécois, Pascal Berube, urged the government to compensate restaurant owners directly, based on figures from last year.

Reacting in turn to Arruda's statement, Minister of Health Christian Dube said he was convinced that the decision to close the dining rooms of restaurants was the right one.

“It was important for us to limit the number of contacts between people, and particularly (...) on the issue of restaurants, bars, places of gathering,” he explained at a news conference. 

“There are times when we decided (...) to be more careful and perhaps go beyond the recommendations that were made,” he added. 

-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 10, 2020.