Legault open to allowing Arruda to be questioned

Unless there is a change of heart, Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec's director of public health, will appear before members of the National Assembly to answer questions.

Premier François Legault responded positively on Tuesday to a request from the Liberal Party, which wants to be able to exchange directly with Arruda for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

“We have nothing to hide,” Legault said at a press conference. “I am open to Dr. Arruda answering questions from members of the National Assembly.”

Sitting by his side, Arruda also acquiesced to the request. “If I am asked to introduce myself, I will, of course ... introduce myself,” he said.

No date has been set, with Legault carefully avoiding on several occasions during question period any commitment to holding the hearing before the end of the parliamentary session on Dec. 11.

“Obviously, (Arruda) is a little busy now, so you have to see when is the best time to do that,” he said during the press conference.

Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade said Tuesday that her party had officially requested a mandate of initiative from the Commission de la santé et des services sociaux.

At a press briefing, Anglade said that in nine months of the pandemic elected officials have not been able to interact directly with Arruda.

She said she wants to question him about, among other things, Quebec's Christmas plan, which has been clarified several times, and on the possibility of deploying rapid tests to try to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

Anglade said she would also like Arruda to clarify what he meant when he said he wanted to explain to Dr. Anthony Fauci, a highly respected scientific figure in the United States, that in Quebec it would not be necessary to test asymptomatic people before the holiday season.