A day after Quebec’s health minister announced an overhaul of the health care system, some are wondering whether the education system is next.
A news report published Friday stated Education Minister Yves Bolduc is poised to overhaul the education system to save money, by possibly eliminating or reducing the number of school boards or by transferring power from school boards to municipalities.
The Quebec English School Boards Association said in a statement that there is no panic, they know changes are possible, but that "this government has expressed publicly its confidence in the school board system.”
Suanne Stein Day, chair of the Lester B. Pearson School Board, says the timing of the report is not great – right before school board elections – but she too is not overly concerned at the moment.
“In fact I think that Lester B. Pearson defines itself by change. We hope when we look for change we're not only looking or dollars but we're also looking at the students and making sure that we're still providing the right services to the right students,” she said.
The news about changes to the education system comes after Health Minister Gaetan Barrette unveiled Bill 10, a law that is supposed to reduce bureaucracy in the health care system and save the province $220 million a year.
They plan to do that by eliminating 18 of the province’s regional health boards, which would cost 1,300 managers their jobs.
St. Mary's Hospital, the Jewish General and Constance Lethbridge, three Montreal institutions that would be touched by this shake-up, all want to study the proposed legislation before responding.
But the President of the Board of Batshaw Youth and Family Services Judy Martin, told us they were devastated when they heard about the plan, because they would lose their own board of directors and if Batshaw has only one person representing them on one of the new integrated health and social services administrative board, perhaps too much decision making power would be concentrated at the top.
But Barrette maintains all clients and patients in the system would be well-served and that the move is not a ministerial power-grab.
“It's exactly the reverse. What we want to do is make sure that there are no middle management in between the Minister and those that are providing the services. We want to have a direct communication and one thing that the minister will not do is manage,” he said.
He says an expert committee would be the ones to select potential board candidates - though he would make the final decision.