In an interview with THE EQUITY, Pontiac MNA André Fortin outlined his concerns for the year ahead about some of the issues he feels are prominent in Pontiac residents’ lives.

At the top of his agenda for the new year, Fortin says he and his the party will be pushing for . . .

better distribution of COVID rapid tests; increasing the availability of N95 masks for essential workers; making sure ventilation has been updated in schools; reopening the obstetrics department at the Pontiac hospital; economic development, as well as working on different clauses of Bill 96.

As another year begins with a gloomy outlook, “it’s hard to take a look ahead and not discuss this wave of the pandemic we are currently in, but this one feels different,” said Fortin as he compared the current lockdown to the movie Groundhog Day, where the lead character gets caught up in a loop that keeps repeating itself.

Like the previous year, Fortin feels the Quebec government was a bit too optimistic leading into the holidays. They reacted by completely shutting down a lot of activities, gatherings and instituting a curfew.

“When the Premier did choose to act over the holidays, he closed restaurants on the eve of their biggest night of the year, with no forewarning. And he put in the most drastic measures on Quebecers that any province has had to do,” said Fortin.

It’s hard to see where the government is headed and to understand, after two years of the pandemic, that they can still be this unprepared and caught off guard by a new wave of the virus, according to Fortin.

“We saw this variant coming in, in South Africa, we saw it in other parts of the world before it got here and we saw the consequences on the health care system. It’s our government’s job to protect Quebecers, yet our government wasn’t clear with Quebecers as to what could happen,” he added.

Having painted a jovial picture of holiday gatherings with an additional lifting of restrictions, only to contradict itself is what leads to confusion amongst Quebecers, according to Fortin, who said this only leads to Quebecers not trusting the government guidelines and directives in a time of crisis.

“It’s really unfortunate and unforgivable that the messaging is still all over the place at this point,” he said.

When asked what his government proposed to do about the situation, Fortin replied, “To me and our party there are solutions that the government needs to put in place right now. The first thing they need to do is increase the availability of rapid tests”, Fortin said.

Better distribution of rapid tests

Fortin feels Quebecers were abandoned by the Legault government at the end of the year,. With no substantial access to rapid tests and no accelerated vaccination schedule, he made comparisons to Ontario, where every age group has been eligible for vaccination for some time now.

“It makes no sense that Quebecers have to line up in freezing cold outside pharmacies and testing centers, just to be able to know if they need to isolate, take time off work or avoid seeing their close ones and vulnerable close ones,” said Fortin.

Increasing the capability of rapid testing and finding a better distribution system than the one that was put in place previously are crucial, according to Fortin who said, “You can’t have Quebecers going around not knowing if they have COVID, because they can’t access a simple test, and are potentially spreading the virus around.”

“You can’t tell people ‘if you have a cough, assume that you have it [the virus] and stay home for five days’ and not have clear directives on how employers are supposed to treat these workers, since there’s often no official record of being sick,” Fortin added.

N95 masks for health care and essential workers

Studies from around the world, including studies from Havard, have proven that N95 masks are more effective, according to Fortin who says it is “unimaginable” not to provide adequate protection to health care, educational and other essential workers.

“We need these people to help us through this but we need to provide them with the proper tools,” he said.

Improving the ventilation in schools

With in-person learning scheduled to resume in Quebec schools on Jan. 17, Fortin is focusing on the ventilation systems that were scheduled to be updated in the province’s schools.

“We’re sending kids back to school and the provincial government is still unable or unwilling to tell us what has happened to the $400 million that the federal government gave them to improve the air quality in schools,” said Fortin.

“If we’re going to put that many unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children in schools it would be very useful to work on the air quality of our schools before we do that. This is something that the government should have done to demonstrate to Quebecers that it is willing to take its own responsibilities in better management of the virus altogether,” he added.

Reopening obstetrics department

Despite the various setbacks with regards to the health-care situation, Fortin said he wants to keep working towards the reopening of the obstetrics department at Pontiac Hospital. He would like to see a resolution before the end of his term in October with a specific plan put in place by the health board.

“As an MNA, and all of us as a government, did not push for dialysis to come to the Pontiac only to see its obstetrics department close. This is causing undue stress to a lot of people in the region and these are basic services that every region should have,” he told THE EQUITY.

Fortin said he hopes that the current crisis has made the government more aware of the fact that they cannot lose any more health care professionals who are worth their weight in gold.

“If we want to keep them in our health care system, if we want to be able to offer proper services, then we need to compensate them adequately. In this region it means compensating them in a way that is comparable to what Ontario offers. Maybe lift some of the language restrictions even if it means offering French courses,” Fortin suggested as a possible step toward regaining and maintaining the integrity of the health care system.

Economic Development

Economic development has been at the forefront of Fortin’s focus since he was elected, though the current labour shortage affecting existing businesses introduces an added challenge. But it’s a challenge that can be met by attracting better jobs with a more competitive pay rate. Wages must meet the increasing cost of living and by improving education, according to Fortin.

“Education is going to play a big role. [It’s a challenge that will be met]by supporting our high schools and professional development schools to make sure our population has the proper skills and resources to meet the needs of employers,” he said.

“There are a few projects currently being looked at by the economic development people at the MRC and by private promoters,” he said, “but a lot of our businesses have suffered through the pandemic, especially the restaurant, tourism and cultural industries. They do need additional help to relaunch their activities and find a stable footing.”

Providing proper government support for businesses when they reopen will be important in order for them to stay competitive and be attractive to their customers, Fortin believes.

“The provincial government has a role to play here and should step in, in areas that weren’t covered by the federal government. Our budget in Quebec is under far better control than the federal government’s budget right now, so we do have the means to help a lot of these businesses. Though it’s not always a question of budget, sometimes it’s a question of making these programs easier to access,” Fortin acknowledged.

Bill 96

Just before the assembly convened in December, the CAQ government started a clause-by-clause debate of Bill 96, meaning that every item in the bill is being discussed and propositions on how to change, improve or remove certain parts of the bill will be made. The first clause they were able to discuss before the holidays was access to justice.

With this clause what the government is trying to do is to work with the Minister of Justice, which is also the minister responsible for the French language in Quebec, to give him the right to decide which judges need to be bilingual and which don’t need to be bilingual.

“To us, putting that power in the hands of an elected politician in Quebec is not the way to go. That is the power that the courts have right now, it is left to the discretion of the courts to decide if in Campbell’s Bay we need bilingual judges, while in Quebec City, perhaps we only need a certain percentage of bilingual judges,” Fortin said.

This is the first point of discord on this bill that he and his government are disputing, according to Fortin, who said it is not negotiable for his party. Along with access to justice in a language they understand, they will also be fighting to protect the rights of the English-speaking community’s access to other services.

“There is a way to improve French in this province, there is a way to improve access to French language training in this province. There is a way to protect the French language without trampling on the rights of Anglophones and the services that are given to Anglophones. And that’s what we intend to do throughout the clause-by-clause debates,” Fortin concluded.

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