The hundreds of positions that are currently being abolished in the health network were all “vacant”, according to the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, who denies having laid off staff in the midst of a shortage.
“The positions that have been set aside […]these are positions that were vacant. They were vacant,” the minister said during question period in parliament on Thursday. “We did not lay off any staff. »
One after another, the Liberal Party and Québec Solidaire questioned him about the recent abolition of hundreds of positions in integrated health and social services centers (CISSS), including nursing positions.
“330 positions abolished in Chaudière-Appalaches, 565 positions at the CISSS de Laval, 500 at the CISSS Montérégie-Est, that’s just in the last week,” listed solidarity MP Vincent Marissal.
Nurses invited to “change positions”
For his part, the liberal André Fortin asked the minister to tell him “how to cut positions for nurses [allait] help him catch up on surgeries.”
Christian Dubé first avoided the heart of the question and then asserted that certain nurses were being asked to “change positions”.
“In some cases, on Tuesdays or Wednesdays, we had too many people, then we are missing people in the schedules… in unfavorable schedules, Friday evenings, Saturdays, weekends,” he said. advance.
Managers, he added, are doing this thanks to the new “flexibility” given to them by the new collective agreements concluded with nurses.
Respecting budgets “non-negotiable”
Faced with a deficit of $11 billion, the Quebec government has asked the health network to limit its spending by the end of the financial year, next March. The health deficit alone is estimated at 1.5 billion.
Tuesday, the minister reiterated that the CISSS would have to find ways to curb their deficits. “We will respect our budgets,” he said. It’s non-negotiable. That’s it from the start. »
However, starting next week, the pressure in this matter will be transferred to other shoulders, at least in part, with the official entry into office of the Santé Québec agency.
