This letter signed by Julie Bouchard President of the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec is addressed to Premier François Legault. 

On August 11^th of this year, after your party was defeated in Arthabaska, you stated: “I think it’s time for me to first show humility and to listen to citizens.”

On the eve of the start of the new parliamentary session, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec–FIQ wants to remind you of your words. It’s time to put them into practice, starting now, by listening to those who are preventing the public health network from collapsing.

For months, our members have suffered the consequences of government decisions and inaction that test their patience.

Nine months after the collective agreement was signed, they are still waiting the money owed to them. The infamous unique seniority recognition process (PURA), which was supposed to recognize their career and loyalty to the network, was delayed due to poor preparation. Behind these administrative delays are women deprived of recognition and legitimate income.

Added to this is the SIFARH computer system fiasco which has swallowed up hundreds of millions to… not even pay the premiums stipulated in the new work contract correctly. While your budgets are exploding, our members are waiting for their due.

Inadequate care and services

Examples of inadequate public care and services are also growing in numbers. The most telling on the list? That in Rouyn-Noranda.

There is no longer a functional operating room since the fire. Dozens of women had to give birth more than 100 km from home, plunged into anguish and uncertainty. Every month of delay adds unacceptable risk. Rouyn-Noranda cannot wait any longer — and neither can you..

The health network is at a breaking point, and it’s patients who are suffering.

While specialists and general practitioners have begun their pressure tactics, the health network is stagnating.

Your government has an obligation to achieve results, and it is not by maintaining a hard line with doctors that these negotiations will be concluded.

The health network needs everyone, including the doctors, more than ever! And they are also entitled to be heard. The bargaining table is the place to be for the rest.

Furthermore, the absence of agreements with the doctors’ federations has consequences for the deployment of the collective agreement for healthcare professionals. By way of a reminder, a $60 million envelope earmarked for catching up on surgeries s currently lying dormant due to the lack of an agreement with the doctors..

Lastly, listen to those you excluded from the consultations on Bill 101. Shutting out the FIQ, which represents nearly 90,000 healthcare professionals, means silencing those who live with the consequences of your decisions every day. It shows contempt for women and for union democracy.

And now your government wants to open a new front against the unions. This is not about transparency, but about reducing the ability of organizations to defend their members. You talk about listening, but in reality you are seeking to silence the voices of unions, which represent the voices of workers.

The new parliamentary session is an opportunity to show that your words are not empty. Listening means respecting the agreements that have been signed. Listening means investing in the next generation. Listening means protecting healthcare workers. Listening means prioritizing the public sector, not the private sector.

So, Mr. Premier, are you going to continue to look the other way, or will you finally have the courage to act?