Negotiations with doctors | Santé Québec excluded from the table

(Quebec) There is a hitch in relations between the Legault government and Santé Québec on the eve of the new state corporation taking office on Sunday. Santé Québec was refused a place at the negotiating table with doctors, where major issues for the operations of the network for which it is responsible are discussed.

According to our information, discussions took place on the role of Santé Québec in the context of negotiations with the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) and the Federation of Specialist Physicians of Quebec (FMSQ).

The state corporation would have wanted a representative, at least an observer, at the table where talks are taking place to renew remuneration agreements with doctors. This would even be a wish of the president of the board of directors, Christiane Germain, a “ top gun » recruited by the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé. They have known each other for over 30 years.

There would have been no formal request made to the government, but discussions on the subject. And the Treasury Board has indicated that Santé Québec will not be invited to the negotiating table. The state company is thus excluded.

Agreements with medical federations exceed $8 billion per year. They contain provisions that have a direct impact on the operations and management of the network, the responsibility of which will fall to Santé Québec as of Sunday.

The state company will then become the sole employer of the network; doctors have the status of self-employed workers and have a client, the State.

At the table, the government is represented mainly by negotiators from the Treasury Board; the Ministry of Health has two seats. Negotiations are concentrated at the Treasury under a decision taken by the Legault government in 2022. We will remember the controversy under the Couillard government: the Ministry of Health, then headed by Gaétan Barrette, had been excluded from negotiations with the doctors in 2016 when he had the mandate to lead them in the past.

“They are in the loop”

These negotiations are being led by the government’s chief negotiator, Édith Lapointe. She has been responsible for renewing collective agreements with state employee unions since 2018, following an appointment made in the final months of the Couillard government.

Christiane Germain directed The Press to the Santé Québec communications team, who neither denied nor confirmed our information. “We do not comment on the matter,” we limit ourselves to saying. Note that the organization still recognizes the existence of a “file”.

For her part, the president of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, maintains that even if Santé Québec is absent from the table, it is not kept in the dark.

Christian Dubé’s office declined an interview request.

Behind the scenes, sources underline the importance of Santé Québec being involved in negotiations with doctors. It is difficult to entrust her with the management of the network without allowing her to be involved in discussions with such an important group of professionals. No employer, including in the private sector, could operate like this, we summarize.

That the name of Christiane Germain is mentioned in this debate is not surprising, we add. Sources highlighted the extent to which the ex-dragon is involved in the founding of Santé Québec. “Christiane Germain is very, very, very involved. She’s not a tourist,” was said about the co-founder and co-president of the Groupe Germain hotel company.

The government has been repeating the same formula for months: Santé Québec will take care of operations and the Ministry will take care of orientations. The border does not seem so simple to define in practice.

Read “Negotiations: Dubé’s remarks do not pass muster to medical specialists”