The surprise shuffle came as Quebec registered its first day since March without a single reported COVID-19 death.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press
Quebec’s health minister became the first Canadian politician to pay a price for the handling of the coronavirus pandemic as Premier François Legault shuffled Danielle McCann out of one of the government’s most important cabinet seats.
The surprise shuffle came Monday as Quebec registered its first day since March without a single reported COVID-19 death – respite for the province hardest hit in the pandemic. Since March 21, the province has had 5,417 deaths, 64 per cent of the Canadian total. Quebec’s death rate is worse than that of hard-hit countries such as Britain, Spain, Italy and the United States.
The vast majority of deaths in Quebec took place in nursing and other seniors’ homes that fall under the responsibility of Ms. McCann’s health ministry. With new deaths, cases and hospital stays from the virus falling for several weeks in Quebec, Mr. Legault decided to reset his government’s health response before the next pandemic wave strikes.
“We had a failure and a victory. We had a failure in long-term care homes but a victory in the community,” Mr. Legault said, referring to the low case and death rates outside Quebec’s health and senior-care system. “The network is a bit of a monster … and it needs a second wind.”
Ms. McCann, a former health care administrator, was health minister from the inception of the Legault government 21 months ago. Christian Dubé, a former business and finance executive, moves from the Treasury portfolio to replace her. Ms. McCann is now responsible for higher education.
During the height of the COVID-19 crisis, Mr. Legault and Ms. McCann gave daily briefings along with Director of Public Health Horacio Arruda. For several days as cases and deaths mounted, they denied shortages of protective equipment such as masks and gowns despite pleas from front-line health workers who were reusing, buying their own or going without. The trio was also caught unaware when a COVID-19 outbreak and staff desertion killed dozens of people at the Herron nursing home and set off alarm about dozens of other care homes.
On Monday, Mr. Legault said the health network’s information-sharing system dates from “the stone age” and managers are not accountable enough. Mr. Legault, who has had high approval ratings throughout the pandemic, said Ms. McCann “did all she could with the information we had, but we didn’t always have all the information. We need to improve our information system, and this is Christian Dubé‘s specialty.”
Mr. Legault also named a new deputy minister of health, Dominique Savoie, to replace Yvan Gendron. Ms. Savoie was brought in mid-pandemic as a trouble-shooter. The Premier credits her with dealing with the shortage of personal protective equipment and co-ordinating better resource sharing in the health department.
Ms. McCann came to the health ministry with a mandate to calm the waters after several years of restructuring under the previous Liberal government. She said it was not her place to offer advice to her replacement but she did have a warning for Quebeckers: “We are still in a pandemic and we have to get ready for the second wave. This is not advice, but a statement of fact. It is a huge challenge for the health system.”
The opposition accused Mr. Legault of finding a scapegoat for the government’s lack of urgency in preparing for the pandemic as 2019 ended. “They refused to pay attention to the alarms flashing on their radar screens,” said Quebec Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade. “They are trying to mask their carelessness.”
The appointment of Mr. Dubé marks the first time the Quebec health minister is not health care professional since 2003, when Mr. Legault held the portfolio in Lucien Bouchard’s Parti Québécois government. “Naturally, I believe it’s possible that a businessman can change and improve things in the health system,” Mr. Legault said.
Several other cabinet minsters changed jobs in the shuffle. Simon Jolin-Barrette, the architect of Quebec’s controversial ban on religious symbols in some public service jobs, becomes Justice Minister where his tasks will include overseeing the government’s response to court challenges under way against the law.
Mr. Jolin-Barrette was relieved of responsibility for Immigration, where he was forced to apologize last fall for insensitive mishandling of a derailed change to a permanent residency program for international students and foreign workers.
Nadine Girault, the minister responsible for International Affairs, adds Immigration to her portfolio. Mr. Legault put her in charge of the government’s anti-racism task force last week. “Every minister has a different tone and I’m sure Nadine’s tone will be different than Simon’s tone,” Mr. Legault said.
Sonia LeBel, a lawyer who rose to public prominence as lead counsel in Quebec’s Charbonneau inquiry into corruption several years ago, moved from Justice Minister to Treasury Board chair.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misidentified Ms. McCann’s former profession as a nursing director. She was a health care administrator who started out as a social worker.