Santé Québec only “followed the law” by increasing the salaries of its executives by 10%, says Dubé

Photo: Jacques Boissinot The Canadian Press Health Minister Christian Dubé argues that these were not salary increases, but rather an adjustment.

Florence Morin-Martel

Published at 11:41 am

• Québec

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Strongly criticized by the opposition in Quebec, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, maintained Wednesday that the new Santé Québec agency had only “followed the law” by increasing the salaries of its executives by 10%.

Earlier Wednesday, Radio-Canada revealed that last June, some twenty executives transferred from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS) to Santé Québec were entitled to a 10% salary increase.

Mr. Dubé, however, stated that these were not salary increases, but rather an adjustment. “The law says that an executive, if he is in a ministry like the Ministry of Health and Social Services and he goes to a network, like the Santé Québec network, his salary must be adjusted to that of the network,” he said in a press scrum.

The news nevertheless made the various political parties present in the National Assembly jump.

Interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay urged Mr. Dubé to “backtrack.” “It’s unjustifiable. These are the same people being hired to do essentially the same work. This is another example of mismanagement of public funds.”

For his part, PQ MNA Joël Arseneau said it was a “manoeuvre to attract people who don’t want to go to Santé Québec.” “All of this stinks. It costs Quebecers money and provides no service to citizens on the ground,” he added.

More details to follow.