Quebec health minister's record is 'catastrophic': PLQ

MONTREAL -

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé's record is "catastrophic," the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) deplored Wednesday.

The party's opposition critic on health, Marie Montpetit, says she came to this conclusion after reading the ministry's annual 2020-2021 report.

"The Minister of Health had said (...) that he would not neglect what is important despite the pandemic," she said Wednesday. "What we see today is that this is not the case."

The report shows that Dubé missed several of his targets, even though the bar was lowered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Is it that the Minister of Health (...) has too much on his shoulders? Is he overwhelmed? Is he in his ivory tower? Is he not well surrounded?" she asked. "Certainly, this morning, his record is catastrophic."

Some examples include, despite being increased from 13 to 15 hours, the target for the average length of stay on a stretcher was not met, the report states.

When it comes to surgeries, the maximum target for people waiting more than six months was revised from 11,000 to 40,000, but there are currently still 46,832 people waiting.

In addition, 6.6 million Quebecers (80.8 per cent) have registered with a family doctor, below the target of 83 per cent.

The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) also promised to reduce emergency room wait times to 90 minutes.

By 2020-2021, the goal was to have a consultation in 132 minutes, which was narrowly achieved.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 6, 2021.