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Montréal – As pre-budget consultations come to an end and the CAQ government gets to work on shaping the health and social services budget for 2025-2026, the APTS (Alliance du personnel professionnel et technique de la santé et des services sociaux) urges premier Legault and ministers Dubé and Girard to make a commitment, once and for all, to a strong public system. The union’s president and vice-president, Robert Comeau and Émilie Charbonneau, have written to the three members of the government to throw down a challenge: “What if we stopped stumbling from one reform to the next, watching the system’s funding go up and down like a yo-yo, and always relying on the private sector? What if we decided, instead, to really make our health a priority? What if we promised to give ourselves social services worthy of our GDP? In short: what if we dared to do it?”

A budgetary shield

The health and social services system is in bad shape as a result of underfunding and ill-conceived reforms, but according to the APTS, there is nothing inevitable about this situation. “We can have a strong public system if we make it a priority, if we stop implementing tiny, half-hearted measures, and if we find the political courage to choose unconventional solutions,” said Robert Comeau. Creating a budgetary shield for health and social services – this is a long-standing demand of the APTS’s – is viewed as an absolute necessity. The shield would stabilize funding for the system by guaranteeing sufficient resources to provide quality care and services, regardless of economic volatility.

Bold fiscal measures 

Once the shield is in place, it will be necessary to pay for it. The APTS notes that the government has a variety of options to achieve this, including the adoption of bold fiscal measures. Taxing the assets of the richest 1% could bring in some $4 billion a year. “In a hypothetical world where jobs in health and social services have become attractive again thanks to well-designed policies, this ‘small’ amount of money would make it possible – get this – to double the number of professionals and technicians working for the public system,” said Émilie Charbonneau.

Redefining the status of physicians 

Ending physicians’ incorporation would be another way of increasing the government’s financial resources, and it would also be a way of addressing an injustice that is truly indecent if their level of income is considered. “A physician is not a joint-stock company – there’s absolutely no reason why they should be taxed at 20%, or even 12%, rather than 50% like any other taxpayer with a comparable income,” said Émilie Charbonneau. Physicians’ job status and remuneration should also be redefined. Taken together, these measures would inject a highly welcome $1 billion into health and social services.

Going through detox from the private sector

Finally, the APTS argues that a strategy to deprivatize the health and social services system is immediately required and should be both energetic and gradual. If the needed investments are made, it will take no more than five years to bring amounts given to private sector health care providers back to their 1979 baseline level. “Think of the care and services we could offer if the 10, 15, 20, or 30 cents that the CAQ assigns to corporate profits out of every dollar they spend were brought back into the public system!” said Émilie Charbonneau. “Let’s not pretend the private sector complements the public system. The truth is very different: our public system is being cannibalized. The least the government could do would be to stop being complicit.”

“What if we dared to do it?” 

The APTS asserts that there are many other possible solutions, and that a strong public system is within our reach if we stop sacrificing the common good on the altar of partisan or private interests. Robert Comeau and Émilie Charbonneau urge Quebecers not to give up on their basic right to health and well-being and to sign the letter themselves in order to throw down the same challenge to the government. “In our fight for a strong public system, we have little to lose and everything to gain. What if we dared to do it?”

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 services 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.