BLOWBACK FROM BILL 10
1,300 fired health workers to be compensated
Already under fire in recent weeks for how he’s handled the crisis at the McGill University Health Centre, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette has now been dealt a legal blow heralded Friday by adversaries as an “important and exceptional” victory.
In a 31-page judgment rendered this week, Superior Court Judge Suzanne Ouellet ruled that Barrette overstepped his boundaries in 2015 while establishing a new regulation that affected managers across Quebec’s health sector only days before Bill 10 came into effect.
Among other changes, the regulation — established a week before roughly 1,300 managers and administrative staff were let go due to Bill 10 reforms — included reducing severance packages for executives from 24 months to 12 months.
Ruling that the regulation was adopted “in violation” of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Ouellet ordered it nullified.
As a result, it was estimated Friday that the legal setback could cost Quebec’s health ministry up to $200 million in severance packages. Exactly who is eligible hasn’t been defined yet and could affect the overall costs.
Barrette’s office said he would not be commenting on the decision Friday. In a short statement, the ministry acknowledged the decision and said it will “analyze how to best follow up within the required deadlines.”
The ministry has 30 days to appeal the decision.
At a news conference Friday, the group that challenged the regulation in court championed the decision.
“It’s a great victory for the managers who stood up and fought for their rights after having a reform forced on them at their expense,” said Chantal Marchand of the Association des gestionnaires des établissements de santé et de services sociaux (AGESSS).
The group maintains the number of positions lost through Bill 10 is closer to 2,000 than 1,300.
Marchand said the decision, which comes two years after the group challenged the regulation, shows that Barrette isn’t allowed to circumvent the law as a minister and that a government cannot unilaterally change employment conditions without first consulting with the associations involved.
“The tribunal concludes that the consultation process was ignored by the MSSS (Health and Social Services Department),” Ouellet’s decision said, adding that the “race against the clock” that was happening didn’t justify the ministry breaching its obligation to consult with the group.
On Friday, Marchand said she met with Barrette this month in an attempt to re-establish dialogue between the two sides. It was their first meeting in three years.
When asked if the meeting meant bridges were being rebuilt between the minister and health sector managers, Marchand said she wouldn’t go that far. “It’s a start,” she said. Bill 10 came into effect in April 2015, merging hospitals, clinics and other institutions under the authority of newly created health organizations.
Every hospital and clinic lost its executive director and many senior positions were abolished. In justifying the reform, the government estimated that abolishing 1,300 positions would save $220 million a year in salaries.
A week ago, Barrette announced he reached an agreement with the pharmaceutical industry over generic drugs that he hopes will save Quebec more than $1.5 billion over the next five years.
But in recent weeks, Barrette has been criticized for his handling of the ongoing governance crisis at the MUHC.
In a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette, former health minister Claude Castonguay called Barrette’s reforms a spectacular failure that damaged an already ailing health network.
“Barrette alone decides and imposes his views,” Castonguay said, stopping short of calling him a dictator.
“Eventually, we’re going to have to fix everything that Dr. Barrette has done.”