CISSSO announces major job cuts, more anticipated
CISSSO announces major job cuts, more anticipated
Regional health authority CISSSO announced Thursday morning (March 13) that they are cutting more than 700 positions throughout the Outaouais in an effort to meet the provincial government’s demand for a balanced budget.
Late last year, Santé Quebec, the newly restructured heath authority for the province announced that each regional service network would have to balance their budget by the end of the fiscal year, which in the Outaouais amounted to $90 million in cutbacks (roughly 6% of the budget).
This latest “reorganization” will cut 102 positions, as well as 25 managers, on top of roughly 600 vacant positions that will not be filled. According to data provided by the CISSSO, the vast majority of the cuts are in Gatineau facilities (78/102), with four being cut in the Pontiac service network. They did not provide a geographic breakdown of the vacant positions that wouldn’t be filled.
A source in the local health network with knowledge of the situation said that the four cut were administrative positions. CHIP 101.9 is not naming this source as they are not authorized to speak with media. A CISSSO spokesperson declined CHIP 101.9’s interview request with a local manager to provide further details of the impacts on the Pontiac service network.
CISSSO CEO Dr. Marc Bilodeau said that his team had made these tough decisions following a very careful analysis of performance metrics.
Bilodeau explained that the majority of eliminated positions were administrative (64/102) and claimed that the cuts “won’t negatively impact care”, noting that the clinical positions that were cut may be reassigned to more pressing duties.
He said that despite all their belt-tightening thus far, they’ve only slashed $60 million of the $90 million they are required to cut, and more restructuring is on the way.
Pontiac MNA André Fortin, who is also the opposition critic for health care, said he was saddened by the news, especially in a region that receives less health care dollars per citizen than the provincial average. He said that while Dr. Bilodeau had a difficult choice to make with these cuts, his assertion that they will not lead to declines in service was hard to believe.
Fortin said that the Outaouais health authority shouldn’t have had the same budget requirements as other regions, due to longstanding underfunding and staffing issues.
CAQ Minister for the Outaouais Mathieu Lacombe’s office did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The full interview with Bilodeau (6m25) is available here.
