2024-2025 Québec budget | The Legault government is setting the stage for a return to austerity, the APTS warns

March 12, 2024

Québec City – “Barely one year after having made billions in misguided tax cuts, the government has announced it is in financial difficulty and has to start reviewing its spending. The stage has been set for a return to cuts and austerity measures, and to having to do more and more with less and less. One thing is certain: in no way can this budget be called responsible.” This was the reaction of the president of the APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux), Robert Comeau, to the presentation of the 2024-2025 Québec budget.

For the APTS, two factors will be essential to ensuring ongoing service delivery to Quebecers and controlling costs: a firm commitment to reversing privatization in the health and social services system and a serious plan to wean the system off its dependence on independent labour. Otherwise, the upcoming expenditure review will lead straight to austerity measures, cuts to critical services for Quebecers, or private companies assuming a larger role in service delivery.

“We need to put health before profit,” Robert Comeau said. “We need to stop making so much room for the private sector in health and social services. Choosing public services will always be the most responsible decision. We demand a clear commitment from the government on this.”

Technical medical departments: essential to patient flow in hospitals

Among the priorities in this budget is a commitment from the government “to improve access to care and services and increase hospital flow.” Yet, the crucial sector of technical medical departments — labs, medical imaging, nuclear medicine, medical electrophysiology and radiation oncology — is essential to achieving this but is once again a government blind spot.

“Without major investments to recognize the value of professions and modernize equipment in labs and in the broader sector of medical imaging, it will continue to be extremely difficult to conduct the analyses and tests required for the diagnoses and treatments people need,” Robert Comeau said. “The government must send a strong signal that it will make it a priority to ensure flow in the hospital system.”

Responsible solutions that require courage

The government did, however, have alternatives available to better fund public services, if they had the political courage to make truly responsible choices. For instance, reversing course on the billions they gave up with the tax cuts in the 2023-2024 budget, and the immediate suspension of payments to the Generations Fund, are two measures that would inject an additional $3 billion to $4 billion in public services.

It's time to stop undermining public services and avoid a new austerity cycle. This is why the APTS is calling on the government to listen to the innovative proposals put forward by the Coalition Main rouge, a coalition of which the APTS is a member that brings together unions, community organizations and civil society groups.

The APTS

The APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) represents more than 65,000 members who play a key role in ensuring that health and social service institutions run smoothly. Our members provide a wide range of services for all Quebecers, including diagnostic, rehabilitation, nutrition, psychosocial intervention, clinical support, and prevention services.