Demanding a society in our image is also taking care of us
With the convergence of economic powers, for several years now, we have been witnessing the emergence of a movement of convergence of citizens’ demands.
Globally, whether it is through the Jasmine Revolution, the Arab Spring, or the Occupy Movement, voices are being raised everywhere indicating the desire of the people to retake the reins of their destiny.
In Québec, hundreds of thousands of people have peacefully taken to the streets, whether to support the student movement that, for nearly three months now, has been waging a difficult battle to preserve an education system accessible to everyone, or still, on Earth Day in order to reiterate their desire to live in a world that is more respectful of the environment and the values of justice, equality and solidarity that motivate them.
On May 1st, International Workers’ Day, citizens are once again being called upon to be heard on the theme “Nous”. Because “Nous” (We) make up Québec society, a society that we want to be in our image. A society in which the values of the people are reflected. A society where, by combining the efforts of those that are the basis of that society, everyone can benefit from safe and decent living and working conditions. A society where the economy works for the people, and not the reverse.
The licensed practical nurses, nurses, respiratory therapists and perfusionists in our ranks have not escaped this collective affirmation movement.
The healthcare professionals no longer recognize themselves in the context that the government is trying to force on them, a context governed by performance and dictated to by the economy. Over the years they have been expected to take care of others in conditions that are increasingly harder to endure, to the detriment of their personal life and, sometimes even putting their own health in danger , the healthcare professionals are now asking themselves “who takes care of those who provide care?”
By demanding that their role at the heart of the health-care network be recognized for what it is worth so that they can continue to provide the care to the people that they are entitled to receive, the healthcare professionals are also part of this movement demanding a society marked with the values of justice, equality and solidarity. These values that are the basis of their commitment.
Because demanding a better society for oneself and those dear to us is also “taking care of us”, I hope that this theme to mark Health Month 2012, “Taking care of us too”, will be with you and guide you throughout the month of May... and the months that follow.
Happy Health Month to everyone!
Argument for a red square
Every since it came to power 9 long years ago, the Charest Government has provided us with examples, almost on a daily basis, of the interests for whom it really works. To produce an exhaustive list of the issues on which the Charest Government has favoured private interests to the detriment of collective interests would take this blog far beyond its ideal length.
The Charest Government’s haste in satisfying the interests of its sponsors and cronies is poisoning every sphere of government intervention: from natural resources to private daycare, including the construction industry and information technology contracts – everything is affected. Minister Bachand’s latest budget provides yet more eloquent proof of this: a golden bridge is rolled out for mining companies or private amphitheatres, while passing the bill to the middle class, students, seniors, and everyone else who doesn’t hang out with the chamber of commerce.
In healthcare, our primary area of concern, we are seeing a similar trend to converting services, values and people into business opportunities: senseless reliance on private agencies of care professionals, anarchic and irresponsible development of intermediate resources for seniors who are losing their autonomy, high-priced subcontracting of surgery, and deployment of PPP projects, which have the main virtue of privatizing the profits while collectivizing the risks. Whenever the private sector is involved, the state of public finances and the taxpayers’ ability to pay do not seem to pose a problem, but it’s a very different matter when the issue is improving the working conditions of the care professionals who are keeping the healthcare system afloat.
Quebecers understand this and no longer have any confidence in Jean Charest, who is hitting record lows in public satisfaction.
However, when students and raising tuition fees are the issue, a proportion of the population – much too high, in my opinion – seems to believe that the Charest Government is suddenly capable of acting in the public interest. Really?
What Jean Charest and the Liberal Party are trying to do is convert our educational institutions into formatting centres, churning out workers to serve private enterprise. This means replacing collective control of education with individual control. It also means reducing the tax burden of the most affluent and transferring it to the middle class and low-income population.
A growing number of independent experts are pointing this out, as can be seen in the following documents:
- Les 8 mythes sur la hausse des frais de scolarité (IRIS, on YouTube, March 24, 2012) – 8 myths about the tuition increase
- Droits de scolarité : le gel, un bon investissement gouvernemental (Michel Girard, La Presse, March 26, 2012) – Tuition freeze: a good government investment
- La hausse des droits de scolarité et ses impacts sur le coût de programme de l’Aide financière aux études (IRÉC research report, January 2012) – The tuition increase and its impacts on the cost of the Student Financial Assistance program
- À qui profite la hausse? Aux institutions financières (Estelle Grandbois, Mathieu St-Onge and Maxime Lefrançois, Ph.D. students in sociology, Le Devoir, March 27, 2012) – Who benefits from the increase? The financial institutions
Our organization was built by care professionals who fought all their lives to defend the values of solidarity, sharing and justice. This is why these values are inscribed in our statement of principles: they are the reason we exist and the anchor of our day-to-day actions. Just like the health tax imposed on every one of us, regardless of income, to “improve” access to healthcare (have you noticed a difference since you started paying?), the proposed tuition increase threatens these values of solidarity, justice and sharing.
Quebec’s youth have risen up to demonstrate their opposition to the management mafia that governs us. They are fighting for values we cherish. Let’s not stand aside with folded arms. Dare, act, influence, the power to change is within us… does this mean something to you? Why not start with a red square?
It's being done on the backs of workers, Mr. Minister!
I was beside myself, the morning of March 2, when I learned about the article in Le Devoir in which the minister for natural resources has taken the side of the employer in the labour conflict involving Rio Tinto Alcan and the workers in its Alma plant. Using the excuse that he is an economist, Clément Gignac glorifies sub-contracting, at the same time forgetting that he is now a minister and that he should not pass comment lightly on such a subject.
Thank God, Mr. Gignac looks after natural resources and not human resources: that is at least a small comfort! Then, only to notice that the Liberal's Plan Nord seems to be in the process of transforming itself into a cheap fire sale of our resources in favour of the multinationals, leaving me with a short-lived consolation.
Getting back to the issue at hand. Minister Gignac states that sub-contracting promotes competition among businesses, but he forgets to say that this is done on the backs of workers. In fact, sub-contractors provide Rio Tinto Alcan a labour force that is paid half of what their unionized workers earn. To avoid conflicts as a result of these flagrant inequalities, they have scheduled the two groups to work different shifts so that they will come into contact with each other as little as possible.
If Marc Maltais, President of the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'usine d'Alma, "villainizes" sub-contracting, then to borrow the words of Minister Gignac, maybe it is as some say, that "it's reached the breaking point".
The public already substantially finances Rio Tinto Alcan and other companies which make enormous profits. Must it also become the workhorse, at the service of these millionaires with no scruples and without a sense of citizenship?
That the electorship in MNA Gignac's county beware. The message he is sending is clear: "the devil with the middle class and everything for industry!"
The healthcare professionals are waging a similar battle in the health sector and, in spite of their demands, the Charest government continues to enrich the private placement agencies by closing its eyes to the harmful effects that this can have on the workers and the patients. In the current context, we can honestly say that the FIQ is keeping an eye open!
Because we have to start somewhere…
For decades, financial leaders have repeatedly told us that the secret to good economic health lies in this simple and uniform recipe, applicable anywhere and at all times:
- privatize
- reduce income tax
- limit the State’s interventions
- leave it to the market and the wealthy to always create more wealth. The wealthy who thus become more wealthy will then be in charge of redistributing the fruits of their hard labour by always creating more jobs and by increasing salaries...
Yes, we know the song. And we know that, in reality, it is in the form of dividends paid to their shareholders that the majority of societies redistribute the wealth; that they don’t hesitate to slash working conditions, even abolishing jobs, when the growth of their profit margin is threatened. In the business plan of these societies, average citizens are only tools among other tools to attain their objective, maximizing profit. The wealthy get wealthier, while the poor get poorer.
However, last December, big news appeared which made little noise, not enough noise to my taste. While food baskets and the woes of our wonderful leaders took up much of the media’s attention, one of the defenders of this all manner of capitalism, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), published a report with surprising conclusions. In this report, the OECD is concerned with the fact that the growth of inequalities threatens economic growth and social cohesion. Essentially, the OECD said we have gone too far.
Consequently, the organization summoned its member countries (the wealthy countries) to urgently adopt measures to address the inequalities, in particular:
- by adopting a progressive tax system (tax the wealthy more);
- by improving direct benefits (unemployment benefits, social welfare, etc);
- by promoting access to education (increasing tuition fees is not conducive to this…)
- by raising the minimum wage and by promoting A GREATER UNION PRESENCE.
These conclusions, largely reaffirmed at the grand event of the financial elite in Davos in January, are more significant in the sense that a consensus among the more leading specialists and experts on the planet is starting to emerge to the effect that austerity is not a good idea and that only a minority profit from it.
Although such unlikely players as the OECD, the IMF and, more recently, Fitch and Moody's are starting to give us the benefit of the doubt intellectually, the battle is being carried out on a completely different field: the political arena, where the players act more according to their interests than according to reason... talk to the Greeks! So, where do we start? How can our leaders be forced to listen to reason and that there be more sharing of the wealth?
There is a great opportunity this Thursday, during the demonstration by the Coalition opposée à la tarification et la privatisation des services publics.
Therefore, come make sure your voice, along with those of the OECD and the IMF, is heard by those from the trade centre who continue to siphon our collective treasury for their greater profit.
Therefore, come make sure your voice is heard on the fact that the increase in tuition fees, the Hydro-Québec rates and the $200 health tax are all measures now prohibited by the OECD and the IMF.
Because we have to start somewhere…
Come demonstrate on February 16, 2012 at 08:00
Victoria Square, in front of 747 Place du Square-Victoria
Métro Square-Victoria
Our elderly are not common mechanical parts!
Once again, over the last few days, the conditions reserved for the elderly with loss of autonomy have hit the headlines twice. Two new examples of the direct consequences of the dehumanization of care caused by the State's unloading of its responsibilities for a group of citizens who are among the most disadvantaged.
The first case concerns the publication of a report from the Ombudsperson on the events that contributed to the premature death of eighteen elderly people at the Centre multivocationnel Claude-David. A disaster bound to happen, and which could have been, and should have been avoided.
The next day, it was a private residence for the elderly which had operated illegally for a year. And directly under the nose of the agence de la santé de Montréal. Once again, to no one's surprise. The rules and the resources governing the certification process of private residences for the elderly are clearly insufficient for ensuring the safety and adequate living conditions for those who live there.
If, tomorrow morning, another viaduct would collapse, resulting in the death of ten people, all of Quebec, including the political class, would be outraged, mobilized and demand immediate action, and with good reason.
If more people knew what the daily lives of these elderly people were like, maybe things would change more quickly…
An elderly person whose state of health requires a presence and care which can no longer be provided at home finds herself in a CHSLD or in a private intermediate resource facility, without having chosen it, and, with a few exceptions, without the hope of one day returning to her home. From one day to the next, it is expected that she get used to a strange environment and that she open up to people that she has never met before. She has to adapt to the system.
Staff for whom time is of the essence and acts must take place at an accelerated pace in rapid succession, concentrate on what is essential. No time for a patient who is lonely and who is looking for someone to talk to for a few minutes. No time either to help another patient dress herself because, despite the desire to help, it would take too long. She must be dressed quickly, performance requires…
And if, by chance, the administration considers that a care unit is under performing, cuts are made to the staff in order to attain the cost-reduction target. A target that is not set by the nursing administration, in theory responsible for the quality of the care delivered. Instead, efforts are made, by whatever means, so that the care delivered corresponds to the resources determined according to the numbers written on an Excel spreadsheet.
This unloading of responsibilities for our elderly is a matter resolved by contract, a good deal, at a good price for the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
But sooner or later, someone has to agree to look at things as they stand now. The MSSS cannot continue to herd the elderly into care or residential environments which cannot or do not want to take care of them in all respects, with the attention and humanity to which they are entitled. The MSSS cannot expect the healthcare professionals to treat human beings as common mechanical parts on an assembly line.
The healthcare professionals, who have made the choice to practice with the elderly love their work, but realize that the profession is more and more difficult to practice under these conditions. They cannot, nor do they want to, close their eyes: their patients can live a better life.
In the mean time, licensed practical nurses, nurses and respiratory therapists are doing the impossible with what they are given in order to keep a human side to a system which has less and less of one.
Things must change, and quickly.
Let’s wish for health for the new year...
Have you noticed how many well wishes there are for the new year that contain a small phrase similar to that one, like a prerequisite for our collective subconscious: “and I especially wish you health because, without it, all the rest is very difficult to obtain.”
We can certainly expect that this tendency will continue if we rely on the events of the past weeks concerning the discussions on the renewal of the federal-provincial health “accord” for 2014.
Currently meeting in Victoria, British Columbia, the premiers of the Canadian provinces and territories are seeking a solution to the recent position taken by Stephen Harper’s conservative government regarding the future of federal transfer payments for health and social services. Remember that, on December 19, 2011, the Harper government unilaterally decided that as of 2017-2018 the federal transfer payments for health care would depend on the changes in the gross domestic product, only maintaining a meagre guarantee of 3% as compared to more than 6% currently required.
In an independent report published on January 12, Mr. Kevin Page, Parliamentary Budget Officer, confirmed that this unilateral decision from Ottawa would have dramatic consequences on provincial finances, eventually bringing about federal involvement “to the historical lows seen in 1996-1997 to 2001-2002”. We remember that at the time, with the goal of reducing its deficit, the federal government opted for an unprecedented reduction of its share in the costs of health care. That obsession with reaching a zero deficit spread to Québec with well-known consequences: indiscriminate cuts and makeshift measures, hospital closures and massive retirements, deterioration in the working conditions and demobilization of the people working in the health-care system...
If Ottawa maintains its decision, what will be the reaction this time of the provincial premiers when there is already division among them, depending on whether they are from the western or eastern part of the country. For example, since they are faced with the withdrawal of the Canadian conservative right-wing, will they choose to make up for the shortfall by claiming tax points? Or still, will the advocates for an even greater presence of the private sector in health care take advantage in order to claim that the federal government relax the requirements in the Canada Health Act?
It is now clear that the federal government wants to gradually withdraw from health care, as Stephen Harper appears to feel that the needs of the people will be better served by the acquisition of new F-35 military jets, the most expensive in history.
By imposing a method of financing without regard for the real needs of the population and vowing to reduce the federal healthcare transfer payments to nothing, the Conservatives will force the provinces to make crucial choices.
Officially, Stephen Harper states that Ottawa does not need to meddle in what should be a jurisdiction reserved exclusively for the provinces. Let’s understand that that is a pretext hiding his real intentions. The truth is that Stephen Harper will not be front and centre when the time comes to defend the principles outlined in the Canada Health Act.
The table will soon be set and places are already reserved for the private sector. The health “levy” and other user fees are in danger of becoming the standard, with an absence of political will to preserve that which, over the last few years, has often been described as being the most significant Canadian achievement of the 20th century.
To be continued...
The fresh air of the Atlantic
When disembarking from the plane on November 23, it was neither warmth or palm trees awaiting me but the humid and icy air of the Maritimes. My two-day visit to Halifax was for the meeting of the provincial and territorial Ministers of Health which was taking place there. On the agenda was the start of the talks on the 2014 Health Accord.
This accord, which has to be renegotiated every ten years, is principally intended for the establishment of the federal healthcare transfer payments in order for the provinces to fully assume their responsibilities for health care. Remember that, in 2004, the federal government, at the time led by the Liberal Party of Canada, made its own interpretation of the concept of jurisdiction. At the time, they imposed their own views on how to manage this money within the provincial health networks, thus ignoring the priorities of the provinces.
The context is different, but equally worrisome, for the 2014 agreement. In fact, it will be a Conservative government at the bargaining table, and it would not be surprising to see a different approach to that of the 2004 Liberals. Not only are our values diametrically opposed to those of the Conservative government, but it is possible that this agreement will grant more powers to the provinces while the Conservatives seek to rid themselves of their fiscal responsibilities.
But it is not this meeting in Halifax which will determine the fate of this agreement. In fact, the meeting was the first in a series to define the basis for the negotiations between the federal and provincial governments. Furthermore, it was an opportunity for all Canadian organizations, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) and the FIQ, among others, to have their concerns heard. The improvement in healthcare, the improvement in the working conditions and practice for those who provide this care, the measures to take for effectively acting on health determinants and the necessary provisions to ensure the offer of safe care for the population are among our many concerns.
At this point in time, it is difficult to know what the Conservatives have in store for us, but clearly, the fresh Atlantic air resulted in refreshing the minds of the provincial health ministers who praised the work of healthcare professionals and who clearly demonstrated a desire to work with us in order to pursue a satisfactory agreement.
That being said, history has shown us many times how a consensus of interprovincial discussions can easily be eroded when the time comes to put it in writing. The preparations for the negotiations are far from being completed, and we will need several small breaths of fresh air again before we can get to the bottom of the matter.
Please, stand up!
By chance, is anyone concerned these days with what is being negotiated behind closed doors at the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement negotiations between Canada and the European Union (CETA)?
If you are one of those who leave everything to the elected officials to follow what is going on, you are in danger of being disappointed and of noticing that very few care. The Réseau québécois pour l’intégration continentale (RQIC) was quick to point out the perspectives of these negotiations and their possible impact on our lives, our environment and our health, but it didn’t make any difference. And after having made many interventions with elected officials on this issue of crucial importance myself over the last few weeks, their indifference sends a chill down my spine.
There is reason to be outraged when we look at the issues at stake. In particular, about a provision for the protection of investments based on the contentious Chapter 11 of NAFTA, the one that gives corporations the power to hinder the creation of government laws which would be considered as “obstacles and barriers to trade”, even if they have been designed in the public interest.
Thus, key sectors such as water distribution and the environment are affected. For example, under that provision, a corporation could contest a regulation aimed at protecting a natural resource if it felt it would be wronged in its right to a free market.
Health and medications are also clearly covered by the European negotiators who want to penetrate these very lucrative markets. Under CETA, the public health-care system will be subject to the new rules of the market. The agreement stipulates periods of exclusivity for medications, which will delay generic drugs coming on the market and thus cause the cost of medications to explode.
I am only giving you an overview of what is covered by CETA and its consequences. And how can Québec’s elected officials continue to say that the negotiation of international treaties is outside their jurisdiction? Quite the contrary, topics close to home are being tackled in these negotiations, topics that they claim to defend. So, how can one not feel the need to shout loud and clear: please, stand up!
Double standard
As time goes by, it is as surprising as it is disappointing to see just to what extent our federal and provincial governments will invest so much energy into changing what really interests the population, not to say what is really in the population’s interest. As we see the surprising rise in the Occupy Wall Street movement who has seen enough of the other 1% of the population grabbing most of the wealth, where can the debate be directed?
Towards those who, in fact, defend the 99% with conviction. Let’s be clear that the diversion is very convenient. Just last week, we saw proposed Bill C-317 tabled in Ottawa, which is aimed at forcing labour organizations to publish and break down their financial statements. But, what about breaking down and making public the expenses linked to holding the G8? What about transparency surrounding the purchase of the F18s? Why has it been decided that the new Champlain bridge will be built in a “PPP” mode, the ultimate mode of institutional collusion?
While the Charest government in Québec wants to demonstrate that it is attacking the real corruption problems, particularly by putting an end to unions investing in construction sites, what about the very disturbing allegations in the Duschesneau report? What about the public enquiry commission that everyone wants and that the government refuses to set up? What about the growing number of allegations of corruption and collusion?
No one is against virtue and needless to say our society can only gain from the fact that there is more transparency, including in unions. But this transparency must apply EVERYWHERE. Because, while we are keeping attention on the youth of society smoking pot at CEGEP and on the poor whom we want to force to take drug tests, we are deliberately removing the real problems from the debate that are at the heart of the global economic crisis and cynicism regarding political issues.
Furthermore, many in the United States see, in the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, a logical follow-up to an Arab spring, and this grassroots movement will not stop there. Already, several cells have emerged in other countries, including Canada. There is little doubt that the public will demonstrate in front of our governments’ doors after the dictators and wealthy of Wall Street, if the latter do not quickly end this diversionary strategy and further the real interests of the population.
Public-private partnerships… who is using who?
Following the most recent revelations regarding allegations of corruption and collusion in the construction industry, the Charest government maintains that the sheriff is about to catch the bad guys. This very convenient position has the advantage of putting the blame on individuals without necessarily looking at a system that allowed the bad guys to become bad guys.
It is worth saying this obstinate will to preserve, at all cost, a system where the private sector is able to dictate public orientations, to monitor their application and to reap the profits while leaving the losses to the taxpayers is shown in the pursuit of, and addition of public-private partnerships (PPP), among others.
Thus, we have recently learned that the government intends to proceed with the construction of about twenty highway rest areas as PPPs. Not counting the three other CHLSDs as PPPs expected in the near future in the Montérégie region. For this reason, if the CHSLD St-Lambert-sur-le-golf has barely made us aware of these excesses that the PPPs can cause, the British are at a whole other level.
After celebrating the inauguration of 700 PPP projects (including 120 in health care) over the last 10 years, the British now have a hangover and are faced with a real financial bomb. Already in 2009, a directive from the British health minister that ordered public institutions to carry out budget cuts of at least 15 billion pounds (about $24 billion Canadian) by 2014 in order to be able to pay the bill of the PPPs. Now, it seems that that will not be enough, because about sixty PPP healthcare institutions will be bankrupt , threatening the longevity of public finances and services to the population more than ever.
Even if Québec has not yet reached such a stage, it must be said that we are heading in the same direction, as seen with the $800 million cuts, which include half in healthcare and education in order to make up for… the increase in construction costs ! Lastly, if the British model is to be avoided, other models are available to us. Like the Tunisian model, for example… When will it end?
With the private sector, always read the small print… and especially between the lines!
I told you in my last blog that this morning the FIQ would be presenting its recommendations on the measures contained in proposed Bill 16, An Act to amend various legislative provisions concerning health and social services in order, in particular, to tighten up the certification process for residences for the elderly.
The question of certification of private residences has been tackled many times by the media since the beginning of the consultations on this proposed bill and you probably already know that the application of several of the measures proposed in it by the government will be done according to criteria to be determined at a later date. Who? When? What? Where? How? No guarantee of the quality and safety of the care to be given to our elders, but we know that the private businesses will get something out of it!
Is there anything more vague? Absolutely! And, in this same proposed bill which, in its second part, deals with the responsibilities of joint procurement of goods and services.
The procurement responsibilities are roughly summarized as a standardization of purchases which can be carried out in a group. Joining together to purchase and save by purchasing in volume is the principle behind “Costco” applied to the health and social services network. A system already in place in the network for many years and known as “groupes d’approvisionnement en commun” (joint procurement groups) and for which the ministry has very little information on. So little, in fact, that the Auditor General in 2008 concluded that “the MSSS and the agencies cannot determine if it is worth the effort to use such groups.” (our translation)
This makes sense so far? You’re still following me? The next few paragraphs may seem difficult, but they will be worth the effort!
So, with proposed Bill 16, the Minister of Health and Social Services is acquiring the power to significantly reduce the number of joint procurement groups by merging the existing groups as he pleases and forcing the regional agencies to impose its use on the institutions. This will have the effect of considerably increasing the volume of purchases for each procurement group and, at the same time, the possible savings in volume.
One can question the relevance of the savings that can be achieved in this way when, put in the equation, is the fact that the institutions will once again find themselves even further away from where the decisions are made on procurement according to their specific needs or still the harm that will be caused to the local and regional economies. The debate remains to be had on these questions.
What therefore, could the main motivation be for the Health Minister in this file? Why this? Why now? And especially why try to pass it quietly within a proposed bill on private residences for the elderly?
Go a little further in your reflection if you really want to. We know that Ottawa is currently holding negotiations that should end with a free-trade agreement with the European Union. We know that some of the most pressing demands of the European negotiators surround the healthcare sector. We also know that the purchase of goods and services must be submitted to the rules of such an agreement after a certain minimum limit. According to the information that is circulating, these minimum limits would be easily reached by concentrating the volume of purchases within a reduced number of procurement groups.
Now, take into account that the definition of “goods and services” here includes human resources as much as material and concrete. Knowing that temporary employment multinationals already exist everywhere in Europe, we can expect them to try and set up in Québec. And do multinationals who contest existing laws and practices in a jurisdiction on the pretext that they harm their primary role of making a profit for their shareholders, remind you of anything?
It was one week ago today, that the European Commission was referred a complaint against the French government "for violation of free competition of healthcare facilities and "illegal aid to the benefit of public institutions"" (our translation) (read the article published in Le Monde, in French).
The Charest government is using a proposed bill intended specifically for private residences for the elderly in order to conceal the measures that risk opening the Québec public health network to private multinational corporations as it never has before. All this in a sneaky fashion. And the implications from it are terrifying.
Another good example of how the Charest government does things, a government with two hands on the wheel and a clear destination in mind: the privatization of public services.
We need more than smoke and mirrors to ensure health and safety for seniors
For the past several months, the media have informed us regularly of cases of mistreatment, abuse and neglect of seniors housed in eldercare residences. In the past few days, TVA Nouvelles announced that a coroner’s report has concluded that “the L'Air du temps residence did not have the necessary competencies to take care of an elderly woman whose condition had severely deteriorated”. In this specific case, a CLSC nurse and to intervene to have the 92-year-old woman transferred to hospital. Ms. Brykowycz unfortunately did not survive the entrepreneur’s deficient care and safety.
Given such a tragedy, I can understand why the Association québécoise des retraités des secteurs public et parapublic vigorously opposes the vague and incomplete measures contained in Bill 16, as reported in La Presse this week. This bill, which is supposed to tighten up the certification process for private residences, instead gives entrepreneurs the possibility of obtaining "cut-rate certification". This is smoke and mirrors, designed to give seniors a false sense of security.
Knowing that the Charest government has never hidden its desire to rely on the private sector to assume responsibilities that normally belong to the State, should we be surprised that this bill instead seems to be designed to make life easier for private businesses?
I would like someone to explain the logic of why it would be acceptable for a private business to make profits without having to meet the same requirements as are imposed on a public institution! Let me remind you of the study by the Institute for Research on Public Policy , which confirmed that the State is in the best position to ensure the quality of services to seniors [IRPP study, in English: “Residential Long-Term Care for Canadian Seniors: Nonprofit, For-Profit or Does It Matter?”].
Seniors have a right to care and need to feel secure. This is a collective responsibility. These are the words of the Minister of Social Services, Dominique Vien, who was reacting last January to a devastating investigation [part 1, part 2] conducted by the J.E. broadcast journalism team. Taking another look at this interview, in which the Minister asserts with conviction that there can be no possible compromise on the rules to be established, I understand that she has abdicated this position.
Yes, Madame Vien, seniors have the right to the care and safety that their condition requires, regardless of their social class. But they are also entitled to expect that their elected representatives will take a position in their favour first, before seeking to respond to the private sector’s interests.
The consultations on this bill will begin shortly and the FIQ will present a brief on September 15. I thus will be talking to you about this again, especially since the government seems to want to steer all the media attention to the part of the bill dealing with certification of private residences, while throwing a cloak of silence over the measures intended to open up the Quebec health and social services sector to international markets, particularly through the Canada-Europe Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.
Emergency wait times and wishful thinking
In parliamentary committee yesterday, on August 24, 2011, the Director General of the Montreal Agence de la santé et des services sociaux, David Levine, made a commitment to eliminate wait times longer than 24 hours in emergency rooms by 2015.
How does Mr. Levine plan to fulfill this commitment within four years? Bear in mind that the Charest government, eight years after making this its main priority, still has not succeeded in reversing a trend which, while it was a cause for concern at the time, is now absolutely dramatic.
Why now, in 2011, should anyone believe in the magical idea that the problem will be eliminated by 2015, when the same concerns had persisted for many years?
Hearing Mr. Levine reel off a series of conditions over which he has very little control but which necessarily must be fulfilled for any hope of achieving his objective, I had the impression instead that I was observing someone preparing a list of reasons that will serve to justify a new failure in 2015.
Does Mr. Levine really expect any support from his Minister, Yves Bolduc, who was still declaring a few days ago that the workforce in place in the health network is very capable of making up for the effects of the staff shortage because “this is a network with people with heart”? A Health Minister’s job description requires more than wishful thinking!
Mr. Minister, I challenge you to meet one of the all too many healthcare professionals on the verge of burnout and explain why, after redoubling her efforts for so many years, she will now have to quadruple and even quintuple these efforts – because she has heart.
You can bet that she’ll have an answer to this question: “What about you, Mr. Minister? Do you have a heart?”
The care team: different knowledge, but professionals driven by the same passion
For the FIQ, the month of May means Health Month! The Federation takes the opportunity to highlight the outstanding contribution of licensed practical nurses, respiratory therapists, nurses and perfusionists to the healthcare provided in Quebec.
The quality of care obviously depends on the expertise of each nursing and cardiorespiratory care professional, but it is also based on complementary knowledge and interdisciplinarity within the team. This is why “Different knowledge, a common passion” was chosen as this year’s theme.
Each person’s role on the care team is highly essential. The professionals have unique expertise, distinct knowledge and different knowhow. For example, the licensed practical nurses observe the patients’ state of consciousness and neurological signs. The nurses initiate diagnostic and clinical measures. The respiratory therapists maintain, restore and assist airway function. Finally, the perfusionists are responsible for maintaining and operating the specialized extracorporeal circulation equipment during surgical and medical procedures.
These few examples of the tasks specific to each profession clearly illustrate the complementarity of professionals working on a solid team, motivated by the same spark: to provide the patients with safe, quality care.
I take the opportunity of Health Month to salute the professionalism, availability and passion with which healthcare professionals dedicate a large part of their lives to care.
Have a good Health Month, everyone!
Federal elections: the time has come to free ourselves from the Conservatives!
There will be a spring election – it’s confirmed! The last Canadian general election only dates back to October 2008, but apart from the major expenditures it represents, we must see this as an opportunity to get rid of a government that has done enough damage.
We must always remember that only 35% of Canadians voted for the Conservatives and that 40% of the population did not turn out to cast a ballot.
Found guilty for contempt of Parliament – a first in history – the Harper government no longer has the confidence of the House of Commons. Or of Quebecers either! How could it be otherwise when the Conservatives are racking up retrograde policies, undermining freedom of expression, showing a flagrant lack of transparency, wasting public funds for their own purposes, granting tax cuts to corporations at the expense of the least advantaged, showing hypocrisy and favouritism, and constantly attacking democracy?
The Federation promotes the rights of its members as women, workers and citizens. It basis its action on the defence of principles such as justice, solidarity, fairness and democracy, values that unfortunately are absent from the Harper government’s policies. This May 2 it will be time to free ourselves from the Conservatives!
Beyond the trappings of the Coalition pour l'avenir du Québec
One must wonder if the arrival of new recycling bins in Montreal has inspired Legault et Sirois, as well as the other members of the Coalition, on the future of Quebec. Indeed, if the protection of the environment is a noble cause in itself, the fabrication of "new" basic recycled products is not necessarily synonymous with a reduction in pollution, on the contrary.
Thus, despite an attractive package which gives an impression of newness, the recipe presented by the duo of Legault-Sirois on February 21 remains entirely composed of recycled products which are unfortunately outdated. After, having gone through the 45 layers of vacuum-packed packaging (meaning), one quickly finds the common ground for the self proclaimed: Quebec would be motionless, incapable of meeting the challenges it faces, poor, morose and sick…
To cure it, Legault et Sirois, and those who have eagerly agreed to follow them, propose a complete set of solutions as innovative as the programming of the TV channel Prise 2 (airs old television programmes): lower taxes for the more fortunate, increase tuition fees, quickly repay the debt in the name of future generations, promote the creation of affluence, reduce the power of lobbying groups, etc. In short, as attested to by the Legault-Sirois group, programmes for the more wealthy and private enterprise need to be promoted to show political courage in 2011. Really?
On the contrary, I believe that the financial crisis that democratic institutions are currently experiencing is rather the fruit of too close proximity between the elected officials and the private sector, a marked imbalance in favour of the more fortunate who siphon off public funds to the detriment of the common good and the majority of the population. I believe that showing political courage in 2011 will involve proposing initiatives aimed at guaranteeing that more importance will be accorded to the common interest of the majority of the population.
The public’s patience has limits, mobilization can accomplish much
The Charest government’s popularity is at its lowest in the surveys conducted. The population no longer has any confidence in them and it is difficult to imagine a turnaround in public opinion.
As reported by Le Devoir on February 14, 77% of Quebecers are dissatisfied with the Charest government. This is outrageous! It is enormous! Such statistics could rouse the most lethargic of individuals, but Jean Charest persists. Despite legitimate demands from numerous groups, there is still no public inquiry into the corruption and collusion in the construction industry, there is still no moratorium on the exploration and exploitation of shale gas. What is more, there were nearly 250,000 signatures on the petition demanding the resignation of the premier at the end of the signature period. A quarter of a million people Mr. Charest! This is not insignificant, is it? But continue to only do things in your mind as that seems to be working well for you.
Over the last weeks, we have seen people throughout the world mobilize in the streets. Their actions have not been in vain. These people have shown their patience has limits, that mobilization can accomplish a lot and that narrow-minded people are doomed to destitution, whether they want it or not. I sincerely believe that Quebecers should be inspired by this.
The Quebec population needs to mobilize and the March 12 demonstration, organized by the Coalition opposée à la tarification et à la privatisation des services publics and the Alliance sociale, will be an excellent opportunity for this. On that day, 150 labour, community, student, feminist, popular and ecological organizations will unite to propose progressive and realistic measures for the next budget from Minister Bachand. Be part of it, mobilization can accomplish a lot!
Everyone is talking, but more must be done!
How many times over the last few months, years, have we heard about men, women, young people, the elderly being in such despair that they choose to attempt suicide? How many times have we heard about people so vulnerable that they can no longer see any other solution? Everyone talks about it: community organizations, the media, even the governments but more must be done!
In this context, the FIQ has decided to join the Semaine nationale de prévention du suicide and add its voice by signing its declaration. The Federation is very concerned with the issue of suicide, notably when this curse affects its members. Last summer, when two healthcare professionals tragically chose to end their lives, the FIQ was deeply troubled and especially outraged to hear the indecent words of one of their employers. It is therefore all the more important to pursue the information and educational steps presently being taken.
It is said that a society is known by how it treats its most vulnerable. The elderly fit into this group without any doubt. These individuals have paid taxes and income taxes to the government all their lives and who are now being abandoned by the government. The number of elderly who end their lives is still too high and it is not by continuing to close beds intended for them in the public network that the situation will change. The elderly must be offered a safe and secure living environment, an environment where they can bloom, but it is difficult to imagine how this can happen in the private residences. How many times over the last few months, years have we heard about the elderly being left alone or mistreated in private sector residences? Everyone talks about it, but more must be done. The government must adopt concrete measures…quickly!
Some will continue to promote the development of private residences, but the FIQ will always fight for the well-being of the elderly.
Happy 2011!
I wish all of you a 2011 full of joy and, of course good health. I also hope that 2011 will bring us other nice victories, such as the agreement in principle reached last November between the FIQ and the Government of Quebec was.
On this topic, the general assemblies in the institutions are in full swing. I strongly urge you to attend and to, above all, go and vote on January 19 and 20. The referendum to be held on those dates is very important: it is your working conditions at stake. This agreement will not solve all the problems, as I have already said, but the licensed practical nurses, the perfusionists, the respiratory therapists and the nurses will have more tools in hand to face the coming years.
In 2011, the Federation will step up its fight against privatization, while pursuing its objectives of defending and promoting the interests of its members. The healthcare professionals can count on the FIQ to make their demands public.
Happy New Year to everyone!
Beyond the negotiations
It is with great pleasure that I welcome the recent agreement in principle for the renewal of the healthcare professionals’ collective agreement concluded with the government of Quebec. The FIQ members can be proud of having stood up and fought for recognition of their work.
The year 2011 should, therefore, start on a happier note. Unfortunately however, not everything is settled and the Federation will be occupied with a number of files in the coming months, notably the one on the fight against privatization. Although a national target reduction of 40% in the rate of utilization of independent labour was set for the Class 1 professionals by the end of the collective agreement in 2015, within the context of the negotiations, the battle is far from over. The evolution in the rate of utilization of independent labour will be closely followed by the FIQ.
After more than seven years in power in Quebec, the Charest government’s style of governing is marked by shadowy decision making and by a heady odor of corruption. Rarely has one seen such a succession of “affairs” that show the closeness and dangerous collusion between government elected officials and the private sector.
Careful monitoring of the future of public services is required, and in particular that of the public health network. Whether by reliance on private healthcare placement agencies, by the development of intermediate resources, through PPP projects or agreements on performing surgery in private clinics, all these decisions have one and only one objective: provide business opportunities for the private sector.
The consequences are disastrous for the Quebec population. According to the Charest government, the future of the health network rests on toyotism, the future of care on its dehumanization, the future of patients on a production line timed to the second. The good of the public is no longer the basis for the decisions. Yet, in a recent survey entitled “Le Québec de mes rêves” (The Quebec of my dreams), Quebecers admitted having great hopes in matters of health, in particular for access to a family physician and waiting times in emergency departments. The government truly needs to adjust its approach.
To confront these major issues, the FIQ must pursue its action strategy in order to remain the key stakeholder it has always been. The next year will surely be an opportunity to reassert the values that motivate Quebec healthcare professionals. More than ever, they must all pursue the fight to end privatization of the public health network and to find concrete solutions to improve it and make it attractive.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
World March of Women: No, equality has not been achieved!
In 2010, in more than 70 countries throughout the world, thousands of women are participating in the third international action of the World March of Women. They want to see a setback in poverty and violence through their interventions and to progress in their struggles for a fair and egalitarian world. From October 12 to 17, women and men from all corners of Quebec are joining together in this large-scale movement in order for the government to meet their demands.
Over the last decades, it is true that significant gains were won. These included maternity and paternity leaves, $7 a day daycares, salary equity and the resources now available for women who are victims of violence. These victories were obtained thanks to the fierce battles waged by women in their workplaces and in their lives.
However, even if we try to make ourselves believe that equality has been achieved and that women no longer suffer discrimination, reality is not that rosy: there is still much to do!
First and foremost, the battle must be continued on the economic independence front because today, the income of women still only equals 70% of that of men. Women also occupy more atypical and precarious jobs that are not unionized and have no pension plan. By the same token, they are poorer once they retire, having not contributed as much as men to social protection plans, such as the Quebec Pension Plan. Women hold the majority (60%) of minimum wage jobs, while they only represent 46% of the labour force. So, the income of a person who works 40 hours a week at minimum wage is 11% below the low income line for a single person before taxes. However, economic independence is one of the keys for access to equality for women.
Also, public services, which have enabled women to progressively enter the job market, are seriously threatened today by privatization and the disengagement of the Government. The poorest in society are the most affected, particularly women, because they are often the first ones to get help from the Government, often at the expense of their job, in order to take care of their sick children or parents going through a loss of autonomy. The fight against privatization and to defend public services is important, because public services are another essential key in achieving equality for women.
There is still a lot to do regarding violence towards women, because their bodies continue to be used sometimes as a sexual object, sometimes as spoils of war, when they are not raped and shamefully mutilated. It must also be remembered that the right to choose to continue a pregnancy or not is regularly brought into question and that, each year women still die following abortions performed in unhealthy conditions.
When I think about the situation of the majority of women today, it is clear that equality has still not been achieved. Therefore, it is important to roll up our sleeves and to fight for the economic independence fof women, for the defence of the common good and for access to resources in order to end the violence that women suffer and to build a world of peace, a more just world. The 2010 World March of Women is an important milestone in women’s battle for equality.
Negotiations with the Government: the FIQ is prepared for all possibilities
The recent tour of Quebec health institutions by the members of the Executive Committee of the Federation produced important discussions with the members. What is the current state of the health network? Where are the negotiations at? How do you see things progressing? A number of issues were tackled, thus enabling a better understanding of everyone’s concerns.
Furthermore, the results of this tour have confirmed the findings of a survey carried out a little over a month ago. That, 93% of the healthcare professional members of the Federation maintained their support of their organization’s decision to not accept the government’s offers in June and to not continue the negotiations.
Moreover, a particularly disturbing fact is that if the current negotiations do not resolve the arrangement of work time issue, that 27% of the members are contemplating leaving the profession, 63% of them fear a professional burnout and 59% think that it harms their family life.
With such glaring statistics, how can Yves Bolduc claim that the recent actions by the healthcare professionals are only linked to the bargaining process? They are calls for help, Mister Minister! The healthcare professionals can no longer do it, they are at the end of their rope.
Some of them have refused to go to work, because they know in advance that their team will be incomplete and therefore not enough for the workload and, what’s more, they will have to work compulsory overtime. Go meet these healthcare professionals, Mr. Bolduc, and ask them if their protests are linked to their negotiations. Maybe you will finally understand that it is the only way left for them to make their employer act, so that he actually manages, which is what you pay him to do!
In such a chaotic context, should we see the change of minister for the Conseil du trésor as a glimmer of hope? That is what the FIQ decided to verify. So, the Federation returned to the bargaining table a few weeks ago, because the government agreed to remove certain restrictive pre-conditions that it was imposing.
The Federation will never drop the public and its members. Therefore, it was with a feeling of urgency that the FIQ resumed the talks with the Comité patronal de négociation. It is crucial that solutions be found for the arrangement of work time problems: an element that the government was closed to until now. The FIQ remains optimistic about reaching a settlement, because a failure will penalize the patients, the health network and the healthcare professionals themselves. However, the FIQ is continuing to prepare to offset an eventual halt to the negotiations with the management party. It is prepared for all possibilities.
So, once again, I am calling on the mobilization of the healthcare professionals, members of the FIQ. More than ever, you must make yourselves heard. Do not hesitate to denounce the feeble management in your institutions, whether regarding inhuman schedules or the abusive reliance on private healthcare placement agencies. Do it for yourselves, and also for your colleagues whose health is just as important as that of your patients.
The latest employer's offer from the Charest Government: a disguised Decree?
On June 30, the FIQ left the bargaining table because the government was asking it to accept the unacceptable.
Accepting the unacceptable means that the FIQ would have to consent to an agreement, negotiated with other labour organizations, which was rejected unanimously by the delegates elected by its members. What could have led the employer party to believe that this was possible? Calling for an agreement of this kind is the same as imposing a decree because, in any case, the FIQ’s right to negotiate is negated. This is what causes the Federation to believe that the latest employer’s offer is a disguised decree. The FIQ will never accept such odious working conditions.
What was put on the table is really a rollback on the working conditions of care professionals. Yet the government constantly defends its proposed agreement, claiming ad nauseam that it is satisfactory to both parties. Nothing in this proposal is satisfactory, Ms. Gagnon-Tremblay! Nothing in this proposal can attract and retain care professionals in the public health system, Mr. Bolduc! There are no concrete measures in this proposal to guarantee the quality of care for the Quebec population in the years ahead, Mr. Charest.
Through its last offer, the government is telling care professionals that they must continue to work overtime, work 16 hours in a row several times a week, and be physically and mentally exhausted. Through its last offer, the government is confirming that, despite the staff shortage, it does not want to create more full-time positions to stabilize the care teams, or to adopt measures that would bring staff back to the public network from the private placement firms and thus reduce the shortage.
To all indications, it would be more relevant for Minister Bolduc to stop investing in committees, in private care placement firms and in relying on overtime. Instead, he should put his efforts into the public health system.
The demands defended by the FIQ do not stop at the doors of a health care institution, and that is the source of its strength. Its credibility and reputation come from the fact that it cares deeply about the health and welfare of the entire population. It is urgent to recognize the work of care professionals and strengthen the public health system.
In the weeks ahead, we must show more solidarity than never. The mobilization of the FIQ’s 58,000 members must continue. If you haven’t already done this, sign the petition launched by the FIQ on June 20 and ask the people close to you to sign as well. Add your voice to the tens of thousands of individuals and organizations who support the FIQ in its negotiations with the government. The public, which includes care professionals, is faced with a collective challenge: the survival of the public health system. This survival depends on the working conditions of the professionals who work there.
Yours in solidarity,
The public outings of the FIQ are bothersome
In this month of May 2010, I would like to wish all nursing and cardio-respiratory care professionals an excellent Health Month. While this should be a time of celebration and recognition of the outstanding work performed each day by thousands of devoted care professionals, it is marred by the government’s attitude towards them.
In spite of this, the tenacity of the care professionals is far from being weakened. The increase in the public outings of the Federation in the four corners of Quebec is starting to bear fruit. The tenacity of the care professionals is far from being weakened.
The numerous vigils held are still eating away at the confidence of those who would expect that the care professionals will turn the other cheek with each one of their blows. Each letter that is written, each interview given, each article published, each account on the social networks: all these interventions are bothersome.
We must be proud: the abandonment of most of the recuperative measures demanded by our management and government adversaries can only be attributed to the commitment and mobilization of the FIQ members. Yes, the government backed down due to one, and only one reason, the mobilization of the members.
Never in the history of Quebec, has a government been as unpopular as the one of Jean Charest. Never has a government had to deal with such a well-founded crisis.
Thus, mobilization has become the trademark of the members of the Federation. This mobilization contributes to putting the identity, pride, activism and especially the determination of the care professionals in the public eye.
At the beginning of April, the day after the Bachand budget, a survey was carried out with the population of Quebec in order to measure its perception of care professionals and their demands. The results concluded, in particular, that the public holds care professionals in high regard and they support their demands. Here are the main features:
- 87% of the population considers that, within the framework of the present negotiations, the FIQ is not only defending its members interests, but also the public interest;
- 83% of Quebecers believe that the improvement of working conditions is likely to improve the healthcare system;
- 80% of the population stated they were in favour of the FIQ proposal to review the arrangement of work time in the following manner: transform all the part-time positions into full-time positions and make the full-time schedule a 4-day week instead of a 5-day week, with the workday being slightly longer;
- More than three out of four people believe that the Charest government does not give sufficient importance to the solutions put forward by the FIQ;
- Only 30% of respondents support public institutions using private healthcare employment agencies.
Reinforcement of the public health network, that is the issue of the present negotiations. The 2010 negotiations have also become an ideological battle on the future of care professionals and the healthcare system that Quebec society has given itself. The care professionals are the main characters in this struggle which puts values in play rather than just the provisions of a collective agreement, and the Quebec people support them.
I have faith in this cause. I have faith in the determination of the FIQ members. I have faith in their capacity to force the government’s hand so that it makes the needed change: that of reinforcing the public health system, that of the recognition of the work of care professionals.
The government’s inertia in front of the public health network crisis has lasted long enough!
The situation that care professionals are experiencing isn’t just a cause for concern, it’s dramatic. Everybody knows that the shortage of care professionals seriously limits any possibility of improving access to health care for the Quebec public.
Can somebody please tell the Minister?
Many of our problems are directly related to the fact that there is currently a shortage of about 2,000 professionals on the floors.
Within the next 3 years, 15,000 professionals could retire. What does the Minister of Health intend to do to make up for this extraordinary shortage of care professionals within the next 3 years?
What does he intend to do to ensure that the young people don’t leave? What does he intend to do to attract enough care professionals to maintain an acceptable level of service?
Instead of discussing the core elements, exchanging ideas on structured solutions to settle all the problems once and for all, the Ministry’s representatives at the negotiating table, persist in using the least little fault, the slightest legal precedent, the smallest detail of an isolated situation to try to make us swallow that we aren’t worthy of respect, that we don’t deserve dignity, that they can still squeeze blood out of a stone.
The government, the Ministry aren’t looking for solutions to the current crisis, they are trying to make it worse. If this isn’t the case, then the message isn’t getting through.
Let the Minister correct his aim! If he can’t do it, then it’s up to Premier Charest to do it! Something must be done. And he is going to find that we are strong, united and standing up in solidarity because we don’t have much more to lose.
The FIQ is a responsible organization, which seeks to defend the working conditions of its members because they are directly related to the quality and safety of the care provided to the public.
We have developed several structured, well-reasoned solutions likely to improve the job satisfaction of care professionals significantly because these are their solutions, their demands.
Several of these solutions require nothing more than an ounce or two of good will. Some are self-financing. Several only concern organization of work.
The Ministry can no longer blame the errors of the past to justify the present, because it is doing absolutely nothing for the future.
Women on the March until we are All free!
A lot of road has been covered since women did not have the right to vote, sign a cheque or make decisions for their children without the approval of their spouse. However, don’t misunderstand us. In spite of what you see in the media, equality is still not a reality! Studies are numerous, the numbers overwhelm us: in spite of some progress, the inequalities continue.
In 2004, Canada was ranked 7th according to the Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum. In 2009, it was ranked 25th according to this same index and 73rd according to the Gender Disparity Index of the UNO. Women still only earn 70.5% of men’s salaries, and even women with a university education only earn $0.79 for each dollar earned by their male colleagues. In situations of spousal violence, 83% of victims are women. At the world level, women count for nearly 70% of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty and for two-thirds of illiterate people.
Many international conventions and tools have been adopted over the last fifty years. However, with the neoliberal policies that attack public services head on, and which open all the fields of human activity to the unbridled strength of the market, the inequalities, discrimination and violence not only persist, but intensify.
In 2000, hundreds of thousands of women from 6,000 non government organizations in 181 countries and territories marched in their village, their neighbourhood or in their town in support of the demands for putting an end to poverty and violence towards women. It was at that moment that women became aware of their collective power. They then declared: “Women on the march until we are all free!”
The third international action of the World March of Women will take place in 2010. From Brazil to Kenya, from Portugal to Japan, from Bangladesh to Chili, by way of England, Belgium, Mexico and Turkey… women will be marching for access to the common good and resources, for economic independence for women, for the cessation of violence as an instrument of control, for peace and demilitarization and for the rights of indigenous women. The Quebec demands are the product of a large consultation and a consensus that stems from the discussions by the representatives of more than fifty Quebec civil society groups.
The World March of Women will take place in all regions of Quebec from October 12 to 17 this year, first locally, then regionally, finally ending with a large rally in Rimouski on Sunday, October 17. Attend these activities in large numbers so that inequalities become a thing of the past!
At a turning point, the FIQ launches a publicity campaign
The recourse to private healthcare employment agencies has taken on a very disturbing dimension over the last several years and this tendency greatly concerns the FIQ. The issue of the recourse to private agencies goes much further than a question of union certification, it is rather the quality, continuity and safety of care that we must be most concerned about.
Thus, the Federation has launched a publicity campaign in order to make its members and the people of Quebec aware of this crucial issue. First, a television campaign will be in full force as of mid-February throughout Quebec. At first glance, the protagonist in the publicity seems to be a taxi dispatcher, until we notice that, in reality, he is distributing manpower in health-care institutions. The FIQ believes that it is right on target with its message. Everything must be done in order that care professionals do not become a labour force to be hired like the services of a taxi driver.
On February 22, in conjunction with the television publicity, a poster campaign will start. The people of Quebec will be exposed to this anti private healthcare employment agencies promotion whether on municipal buses or on the bill boards along the highways. The theme: "Private interests are profiting from public healthcare. The Ministry of Health is letting it happen. We’re all paying for it."
The situations have become untenable for its members and the actual bombardment of publicity from the private healthcare employment agencies has convinced the Federation and its delegates of the need to answer this publicity. Contrary to what the private agencies would lead you to believe, it is false to think that the personnel from the private sector are going "to save" the public health network and give a breather to the care professionals that are constantly confronted with a work overload.
The FIQ invites its members and the public to mobilize to stop the mushrooming of the private agencies in the public health network. It must always be remembered that it is the loyalty of the care professionals to the public health network and the development of a feeling of belonging to their institution which contributes to the quality, safety and continuity of care.
PPP mode: the fox in the henhouse
While Influenza A (H1N1) has been making daily headlines for months, another severe pandemic has been growing, without the government proposing a mass vaccination campaign. The past year has featured many ethical and financial scandals, spattering mud on all levels of government, whether federal, provincial or municipal.
For years, the advocates of neoliberalism have persistently argued on every podium that the private sector is more efficient and would be a better manager of public funds. Based on this myth, the political class has endeavoured to eliminate the obstacles to close collaboration between the State and private enterprise, one by one. Yet the establishment of a strong, competent and independent public service in the 60s was specifically intended to avoid arbitrariness, favouritism and cronyism in public decisions. At that time, it was already obvious that stripping the public service and relaxing the regulatory framework governing relations between politicians and private companies would lead to the current situation.
The facts revealed in the latest report of the Quebec Auditor General regarding the analyses of the Agence des PPP are consistent with this logic. Thus, it is shown that the Agence oriented studies and manipulated figures to depict the PPP formula as a must for construction of the CHUM and the MUHC. In the same report, Renaud Lachance points out by adding a touch of transparency and rigour, the traditional public formula appears to be far more favourable, adapted and economical to carry out these major projects.
Yet the mandate of the Agence des PPP carried the germ of conflict of interest, because it consisted of evaluating and promoting the relevance of PPP. It is true that this exercise was entrusted to expert firms, but we must remember that most of the Agence’s personnel came from these same firms. In short, the fox was simply invited into the henhouse. Why should we be surprised that some of the chickens are missing?
Although the Agence des PPP is rightly being criticized for its approach, the Government must bear the responsibility. It cannot claim ignorance, because it set up the structure of this deception. It endorsed the Agence’s work and, now that this waste of public funds has been unmasked, it intends to keep going down this path.
Everyone agrees that the Government must back down, including the representatives of the private sector, such as engineers, architects and contractors. The Government can no longer ignore these calls. The PPP mode must be abandoned and the CHUM and MUHC projects must be carried out in traditional mode.
In addition to its inadequate position on PPP, the Government is refusing to set up a commission of inquiry on highway construction contracting. It therefore is giving its blessing to suspicious operations. In this context, I invite you to take advantage of the holidays to talk with your family and friends about the Quebec Government’s unacceptable attitude – that it seems more interested in letting the friends of the regime get rich than watching out for the public’s interests.
Happy holidays!
