We all escaped from it | Press

Apparently, Franுவாois Legalt did not like to be told that he was insulting the thousands of elderly people who were swept away by the first wave by holding a press conference on Tuesday evening on child vaccination. Critic of massacres in CHSLDs.

“I’m here every day, seven days a week, to say that we are disrespectful when it comes to comforting everyone. It’s one of the hardest things of my life …”

You can feel the Prime Minister’s annoyance.

You can feel it boiling inside.

And, frankly … we can understand. For days, all sorts of operating system managers – including myself – have been questioning epidemic management. Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections. To hide things. Try to create a diversion.

Still, we saw it. François Legault there, day by day, surrounded by D^R. Horacio Arruda and Danielle McCann, then Minister of Health and Social Services.

Sticking to our televisions, the three of us followed, daily at 1 p.m. No one doubts that this is the hardest time of their lives. Fought. They did everything they could to prevent disaster.

In spite of everything, they escaped him.

The Ombudsperson, Mary Rinfred Report recalls this painfully. His discoveries are enormous. This is above all: the 4,000 elderly people who died of CHSLDs in the spring of 2020 have been forgotten.

At the center of preparation for infection, we don’t think about them. It was too late when I woke up. Caught fire.

This is a terrible tragedy, a historical crisis, which deserves a historic answer: the Commission of Inquiry. I first claimed it twice in May 2020 and then last week. Other historians say so. Even the opposition.

But … it will not happen.

The government flatly denies it. He has no intention of exercising at all. First, the four trials should shed light on the already existing management of the epidemic. The ombudsperson, the coroner, the health commissioner and the auditor general have the same powers as the public inquiry commission. They can force people to testify and prepare documents.

In short, according to the government, all four of these organizations can do the job very well. Scratch – Again – What’s the point of spending millions on a sore?

However, the fear of the government above all else is not a waste of public funds. Like genocide.

He fears that prosecutors at the Commission of Inquiry will be under great pressure to identify the culprits and spread the blame. He fears that elected officials and state managers will be released into the lion’s den.

Let us remember those who showed commitment throughout this unprecedented crisis. Who are ineligible to be considered guilty in a trial broadcast on 24 hour news channels.

This is what the government wants to avoid at any cost. And he should not be wrong.

This can be seen in the content of the attacks launched by the opposition in recent days. Back on Wednesday, Quebec’s Liberal Party accused the government of “lying to Cubans.” Party Quebecois coroner Kehan ​​invited Camellia D to listen^R. Arruda, M^Me McCann and two deputy ministers because they “did not tell him the truth” in the first testimony.

It is true that the mess that has been going on for the last few days is confusing. But whether or not the government did what it did in the spring of 2020 – it is clear that it is being hit particularly hard for what it said during the autopsy.

Let’s just say he shouldn’t have thought of holding a public hearing …

Still, you need one.

The idea is not to put Horacio Arruda, Danielle McCann or Marguerite Blais on board. This is not to point fingers or spread blame.

Will it happen? May be. But we will not yet be in the situation of the Sarpanch Commission, where many witnesses have been accused of being in their pockets.

It seems to me that Quebecs would have known the difference between skimmers and managers who acted in good faith to avoid the Italian catastrophe.

They saw hospitals overflowing. They found that Italian caregivers faced an impossible choice. To whom should the only remaining oxygen cylinder be given? Whom to save, whom to sacrifice?

They wanted to avoid it. Hospitals were loaded at full speed. They converted hundreds of patients to CHSLDs. They were prepared for the worst … without realizing it was the worst act.

They escaped him. Absolutely. Sad.

“The first wave still haunts us. We will never forget it, “said Martin Goskinen, the prime minister’s chief executive, on Tuesday.

There is no reason to doubt that. We saw them. They were there day by day. Seven in seven.

But the result is the same. Thousands of elderly people died in horrific, disgraceful, inhumane conditions.

Takes time to think. Joint and general. We need to understand how we got there. We owe a debt of gratitude to the thousands of victims who have survived, and to their bereaved families.

A Commission of Public Inquiry is required. Not to account for two or three managers, but to feel collective.

Realize how we treated vulnerable elderly people in Quebec long before the epidemic. CHSLDs are not just in the government’s blind spot. They have all been in the blind spot. For decades.

As a society, we must move toward the end of things that acknowledge everything we do not do and everything we do not want to see.

Read the paragraph “For public hearing” (Press)

Read the paragraph “Inquiry for Gilbert” (Press)