‘I acted very quickly’ on pandemic: premier
With session consumed by COVID crisis, sweeping Bill 61 remains on order paper
QUEBEC As the National Assembly recesses for the summer with no deal on Bill 61, Premier François Legault is defending his government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, saying criticism lobbed at him by the opposition parties is completely unfair.
And despite reports to the contrary, Legault said at no point in the crisis was Quebec short of personal protective equipment for health-care workers, though he admitted there may have been distribution problems.
“It’s so easy to play the Monday morning quarterback and say the football team should have gone to a ground play,” Legault said, responding to a question from Liberal opposition leader Dominique Anglade, who accused the government of being too slow to act when the threat became clear. “It’s so easy, so easy.
“I am convinced we saved thousands of lives in the Quebec community. I acted very quickly, and I find it completely unfair that the leader of the opposition suggests we did not act soon enough.”
Legault also rallied to the defence of Quebec public health director Dr. Horacio Arruda. On Friday, the Parti Québécois wondered whether Arruda’s 12-day working vacation at the start of the pandemic compromised Quebec’s response.
“I think public health and Dr. Arruda did what they had to do,” Legault said. “They were watching and when the time came to take action, we were among the first — we were the first to close in North America, to lock down our companies.”
On the last day of the spring sitting of the legislature, it was Anglade who raised the issue of Quebec’s management of the crisis, which has left 5,148 Quebecers dead.
In question period, Anglade asked Legault why it was that other Canadian provinces started stocking up on medical supplies as early as Jan. 12 while Quebec waited a month and a half longer, acting when the province’s first COVID -19 case hit.
She also asked why it took until March 9 for Quebec to form a crisis committee, considering the first case in Canada was declared in late January.
“In the months of January and February 2020, nobody here or in the other Canadian provinces knew what would hit in March,” Legault responded.
Later, however, in comments on a motion of condolence for the victims of the pandemic, Legault used the word “catastrophe” to describe what has happened in the CHSLD system, where 4,600 (90 per cent) of the deaths occurred.
“We have a duty to remember, we must never forget (the victims), but also have a duty to act to make sure it never happens again,” he said.
MNAS later joined in a moment of silence to remember the dead. But the leaders of Québec solidaire and the Parti Québécois also took turns attacking the CAQ’S management.
QS co-spokesperson Manon Massé said the government’s initial response to the pandemic was good, but it lost control following the revelations in April of the horrors at the Résidence Herron in Dorval.
“The result is more than 5,000 people died,” Massé told reporters at a news conference. “That’s more than all the other Canadian provinces put together. There is no reason to be proud.”
“Quebec has 23 per cent of the Canadian population, yet sadly claims 60 per cent of the deaths,” added interim PQ leader Pascal Bérubé.
The comments capped a short, at times emotional sitting of the legislature focused entirely on the pandemic and the government’s plan to fight the looming recession. That was supposed to happen with the adoption of Bill 61 to fast-track public spending projects such as schools, seniors’ residences and infrastructure.
Completely underestimating the opposition to the bill, which would give government sweeping powers to cut environmental red tape and protect itself from court challenges, the CAQ did not get the bill past the passage-in-principle stage of adoption.
Bill 61 will languish on the order paper until the fall.
A bitter Treasury Board president Christian Dubé blamed the failure on an opposition misinformation campaign.
“With what just happened, you can forget about the blue (métro) line,” Dubé told reporters.
“It’s not because they have a majority that they can be authoritarian,” responded Anglade at her end-of-session news conference.
One key bill did pass into law: in a vote taken Friday, Bill 55, which abolishes time limits on sexual assault lawsuits, was adopted and given royal sanction.
The house resumes sitting Sept. 15.