Debate on major health reform cut short after CAQ government invokes closure

The Coalition Avenir Québec government will use closure to push its sweeping health-care reform bill into law before the provincial legislature breaks for the winter holidays.

The Coalition Avenir Québec government will use closure to push its sweeping health-care reform bill into law before the provincial legislature breaks for the winter holidays.

The move came Friday after the government’s proposal to extend the legislative committee’s work on Bill 15 for four additional days failed.

Doing so would have required approval from all three opposition parties, but there were concerns about rushing through the review of hundreds of clauses. Earlier this week, the PQ suggested resuming work on the bill in the new year.

“It’s been 238 hours that (Health Minister) Christian Dubé has been listening to the Opposition’s suggestions,” Premier François Legault told reporters in the morning. “Do you think more is needed?”

Dubé, for his part, said Quebecers are “upset” and “they need a change on the health system.”

“I’m tired of going to see in emergencies that the people are not being taken care of,” he said.

By invoking closure, the government limits further debate and speeds up the adoption of one of the largest pieces of proposed legislation in the province’s history.

Bill 15 would create Santé Québec, a new centralized agency to oversee the public health-care system. The bill contains more than 1,200 articles and will make changes to more than 30 existing laws.