Quebec Health Minister Phillip Couillard is standing by prominent provincial Liberal candidate Pierre Paradis after Paradis said the government is exaggerating its improvements to the health care system.
Paradis, a long-serving MNA in Brome-Missisquoi, told CBC that the Liberal party is overselling any progress its government made in reducing wait times for health care treatment.
"People know that we have done a good job, but maybe not as good as we [claim]," he said on Sunday at a Liberal rally in Sherbrooke.
Paradis said the Liberals did well in appointing Couillard, a surgeon, as health minister because he "stabilized" the system, but real progress in improving care has yet to come.
Couillard said on Tuesday that the comment wasn't a slight against the leader.
"Well, he made them in the context of a more general interview and if you read the verbatim of what he said, there was a clear message that of course there are still problems in the health-care sector but we have made significant and important efforts in order to improve the system, " Couillard told CBC News.
While Paradis is a veteran Liberal, Charest left him out of the cabinet in the last government. Paradis was openly critical of the government's privatization of Mont Orford provincial park.
On Monday, Paradis qualified his comments and said the current problems with the system are the fault of the Parti Quebecois. The PQ's decision to offer buyouts to doctors and nurses was a bad idea, he said.
Since the election campaign began, Charest has referred frequently to his government's record on reducing wait times for health services, notably for three types of surgery: hip and knee replacement procedures and cataract treatment.
But reports indicate that wait times for other procedures haven't diminished and problems, such as a shortage of family doctors and overcrowded hospital emergency rooms, continue to plague the health-care system.
Paradis said he's seen first-hand how ER overcrowding continues to be a problem in hospitals.
"Last election, when I walked into the halls of the Brome-Missisquoi Perkins Hospital, I had 20 people on stretchers in the hall of the hospital," he said Sunday. "I walk, during this campaign, into the emergency room, and there's an average of 15. So I cannot tell people that the problem has been solved."
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| Party | Elected | Leading | Total | Vote Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LIB | 48 | 0 | 48 | 33.08% |
| ADQ | 41 | 0 | 41 | 30.80% |
| PQ | 36 | 0 | 36 | 28.32% |
| QS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.65% |
| GRN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.89% |
| OTH | 0 | 0 | 0 | .26% |
| Last Update:March 27, 12:52:21 AM EDT | ||||
Quebec Votes 2007 Headlines »
- Que. Liberals take minority win with grain of salt
- Quebec Premier Jean Charest said he'll build bridges with the Parti Québécois and the Action Démocratique du Québec to ensure a stable minority government.
- Dumont will work with Quebec Premier Charest
- Quebec's new Opposition Leader Mario Dumont said he wants stability at the national assembly and pledged to work with the Liberal minority government on a case-by-case basis.
- Boisclair remains at helm after PQ finishes 3rd
- André Boisclair is staying on as leader of the Parti Québécois and vowed to help rebuild the fractured party after it suffered major losses in Monday's provincial election.
- Quebec election result 'good news' for Canada: PM
- Stephen Harper says voters in the Quebec election have used their ballots to reject calls for another referendum in a "great result" for Canada.
- Charest keeps seat as Liberals cling to power in Quebec
- Quebecers are waking up to a minority Liberal government — the first minority in the province in 130 years — and a new official Opposition.