LETTER

 

----- Who's a proud Quebecer?

 

 During the French debate, September 8, Justin Trudeau told BQ leader Yves-Francois Blanchet, “You keep forgetting, I am a Quebecer. I’m a proud Quebecer; I’ve always been a Quebecer; I will always be a Quebecer.”

That is not quite true.

Although he has represented the Papineau, Quebec, riding since 2008, according to the CBC, he sold his house in Quebec and moved to Ottawa in 2013. In May, 2018, he voted in Ontario's provincial election.

Unlike his Quebec constituents, as a legal resident of Ontario, he would have a fully portable Ontario health insurance (OHIP) card.

Thus, when he visits a physician in Ontario or any other province, unlike his Quebec constituents, he is not expected to pay out-of-pocket, and await partial reimbursement. He must know that since 1984 Quebec has been violating Section 11 of the Canada Health Act regarding portability, but he, like all previous prime ministers and federal health ministers, has done nothing to enforce the federal law, even though it would greatly benefit his “fellow Quebecers” -- who  must feel like second-class citizens when they seek medical care outside Quebec.

This can occur when West Quebec patients require treatment in Ottawa, but also when all Quebecers needs urgent, unexpected care while on vacation or a business trip elsewhere, or during the first three months of a permanent move to another province, when they are “covered” only by a Quebec medicare card that few non-Quebec MDs will accept. (I believe) this is more significant to the average Quebecer than whether a private clinics are allowed to exist in their province.

Charles S. Shaver, MD

Ottawa, Ontario