Will the Dubé revolution (finally) be the right one?

” Effective “. The word is repeated ad nauseam by the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. Hence the title of his Bill 15, presented yesterday with great fanfare: An Act to make the health and social services system more efficient.

Quebecers having had supper from an increasingly inaccessible and dysfunctional system, in terms of political communication, the choice of word is certainly clever. Who doesn’t want a more “efficient” network?

With its 1180 articles and the 37 laws it modifies – a mammoth bill if there ever was one – Christian Dubé nevertheless denies presenting yet another “reform” of the network.

It must be said that since the catastrophic reforms of the former Liberal minister Gaétan Barrette, the word is radioactive. However, Christian Dubé is indeed proposing “his” reform. Not to say “his” cultural revolution.

Measure by results

The immensity of the bill, however, means that weeks will be needed to dissect it in detail. The devil, as we know, loves to hide in the details.

The only thing already certain is that the correctness or otherwise of the Dubé revolution will be measured solely by its concrete results. The rest will be just wind.

Faced with such a ramshackle network, Christian Dubé’s command is clear and precise. It will have to make it much more human, decentralized, flexible, accountable and accessible. Or the complete opposite of what it has become.

Patience at end

This is why the eventual creation of Santé Québec, a kind of second Ministry of Health charged in its place with “managing” the network, will mark the failure or the success of the Dubé revolution.

The patience of Quebecers, an aging and docile people, is at an end. For 25 years, governments have seriously weakened the public health system through their waves of austerity and botched reforms that sound like mad scientists.

Hence the continued expansion in parallel with a lucrative market for paid private care. This expansion must also be curbed. It is an essential question of social justice and public health.