Ombudsman focuses on spending cuts
Disputes claims that belt-tightening measures don’t harm services
QUEBEC — Raymonde SaintGermain, Quebec’s ombudsman, presented her annual report Wednesday, detailing cases where citizens were mistreated by public bodies, focusing this year on the effect of government spending cuts.
Saint-Germain noted that whenever the government announces belt-tightening measures, ministers insist there will be no reduction in services.
“But that is not true anymore,” she told reporters.
Quebec’s long-term-care centres, known as CHSLDs, cannot accommodate all the seniors lacking autonomy who require their services, Saint-Germain explained.
So the government farms out seniors to private-forprofit or community residences.
She said the personnel in these residences are paid less and have less training. As well, private residences are not subject to the same inspections CHSLDs face, with a resulting decline in the quality of services for seniors.
Treasury Board President Stéphane Bédard responded that the government is increasing its health-care budget, but Saint-Germain noted that “needs are rising faster” and wait times for access to public services and health services have led to increased citizen complaints.
She also called on Quebec’s Family Department, which oversees daycare, to ensure educational quality and consistent application of standards.
Created in 1968, the ombudsman’s office investigates complaints by citizens who say they have been mistreated by the Quebec government and bodies reporting to the government.
Saint-Germain and her team of 133 staffers dealt with a total of 19,460 complaints last year.
They found that 27.7 per cent of public service complaints were justified, and 43 per cent of health and social services complaints were valid.
Here are some notable cases signalled in the ombudsman’s annual report: Revenue Quebec: A woman was notified in a tax assessment that she owed $1.5 million, based solely on a handwriting expert who said she forged signatures. She was not allowed to have a second handwriting expert review the evidence, and the ombudsman found Revenue Quebec had no proof. The assessment was cancelled. Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail: The CSST is obliged to reimburse the full cost of plantar orthoses when there is a link to workplace health and safety. The CSST reimbursed $300 for orthoses costing $430, because its computer is programmed to pay no more than $300. The ombudsman found 250 cases of claimants not being fully reimbursed and persuaded the CSST to lift its $300 ceiling. Justice Department: A man was arrested in Quebec City in January 2012 and held in jail for a week until a judge released him because electronic records had not been updated to reflect that the man had pleaded guilty to the offence and already served his sentence. The ombudsman raised similar cases, recommending that the department and other government agencies keep their database up to date. Société de l’assurance automobile du Québec: The SAAQ grants disabled parking permits on the advice of a medical doctor, but these permits are only available to those with little mobility. Someone with a heart problem or an amputation is not automatically eligible. The SAAQ reasons that if you can still get around, even on a prosthesis, you don’t qualify. The ombudsman did not persuade the SAAQ to change its policy, but the agency has agreed to better spell out its requirements. Prison overcrowding: The ombudsman noted that four new prisons announced in 2007 have not been built, and they would still not be adequate to solve the over crowding issue. Two and three prisoners are put in cells intended for one prisoner. Female prisoners in the Trois-Rivières detention centre were held in a reception area, called the “bullpen,” with no sinks or showers. The ombudsman intervened and it was agreed that women sleeping in the “bullpen” would have access to the women’s prison in the daytime.