CHRIS LOWREY
OUTAOUAIS Aug. 15, 2018
According to a recently-released study, the healthcare system in the Outaouais – everything from access to services to education – is underfunded compared to similar regions in Quebec.
The study was undertaken by Bertrand Schepper, a researcher with the institut de recherché et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), which bills itself as a progressive research institute that “spreads a counter narrative to the perspectives of the economic elites.”
The study combined the five MRCs in the Outaouais: Papineau, Gatineau, Des Collines, La Vallée de la Gatineau and Pontiac.
Among the findings of the study, it found that although the Outaouais makes up 4.7 per cent of the population of Quebec, the region only gets 3.5 per cent of Quebec’s healthcare spending.
This amounts to a shortfall of around $250 million per year.
When contacted, representatives from CISSSO refused to comment on the study.
“For every dollar people in Quebec get for healthcare, the people of the Outaouais receive 75 cents,” said Schepper.
Schepper compared the Outaouais to similar regions in Quebec in terms of expenditures on social and health services, access to those servcices, the quality of the services and assistance of community groups.

The regions chosen for comparison are Lower St. Lawrence, Saguenay Lac Saint Jean, Mauricie and Centre du Quebec.
One of the main repercussions of the lack of funding in the Outaouais is staff shortages. The study notes that there is a shortage of nurses, support staff and medical specialists.
In many cases, the shortages have forced Quebec residents to seek alternatives in Ontario.
As a result, La Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ), which administers Quebec’s health insurance, has paid an average of $107 million to Ontario each year in compensation.
The study notes that had that money been spent in Quebec, it would have generated 1,650 additional jobs in the province’s healthcare system.
Along with a shortage of funding and staff, Schepper points out that the number of beds for short-term stays in the Outaouais is 75 per cent of the provincial average.
Schepper said the reason for this is simply a lack of space. This also contributes to a staffing shortage because there is simply no space for more doctors.
Not only does the study suggest that there is a shortage of healthcare professionals in the field right now, but the province isn’t doing enough to increase the amount of staff being trained.
Compared to other comparable regions in Quebec, the amount of vocational education programs offered in the Outaouais comes up woefully short.
Schepper argues that in order to bring the Outaouais in line with similar regions of Quebec, the province needs to invest $141 million annually to allow for the addition of 12,000 students.
Because of the underfunding, Schepper says that many young people in the Outaouais choose to study elsewhere if they are interested in working in healthcare. The reason for this is the lack of enrollment spaces as well as the lack of job opportunities once they graduate.
As a result, many young people with the expertise needed in this region go elsewhere and choose not to return upon graduation because of a lack of career prospects, which further contributes to staffing shortages.
The study argues that if the Quebec government contributes the $141 million needed each year to improve the post secondary options in the region, it will lead to 2,153 jobs which will add $226.8 million to the region’s GDP each year.
He said that by locating services in places like the Pontiac, it will create economic spinoffs elsewhere in the community.
Schepper and IRIS conducted the study after being approached by Equité Outaouais, a citizens group formed to fight for improved access to healthcare for residents of the Outaouais.
“I was skeptical about the results,” Schepper said about his reaction when he was first approached by Equité Outaouais.
He initially found it hard to believe that one region would receive so much less funding than other comparable regions across the province.
“Their hypothesis was a good one and the [funding shortfall] was far bigger than I expected,” Schepper said.
Schepper said that in the wake of the study’s publication, the reaction from the province’s health minister, Gaetan Barrette, has been eyebrow-raising.
“I’m a bit surprised by the reaction,” he said. “It’s funny because I have the impression that he’s doing damage control.”
Schepper said that the response from Barrette was that the study only had access to the data from 2015-2016, which was still in the early days of the newly-amalgamated healthcare network.
When asked, Schepper was blunt about whether or not the healthcare system’s funding would have changed significantly between 2015 and his study.
“It’s impossible,” he said.
To read the study in its entirety, visit https://iris-recherche.qc.ca/ and click on the study at the top