Parti Québécois (PQ) Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon vowed Friday to abolish Santé Québec if elected, saying a PQ government would cut at least $40 million a year from health administration and return more decision-making power to the regions.
The proposal would dismantle the centrepiece of the Coalition Avenir Québec government’s health-care overhaul, less than two years after Santé Québec took over day-to-day management of Quebec’s public health network. The PQ says it would aim to increase savings to as much as $100 million a year, with the money reinvested into primary care and reducing surgical wait lists.
“We are indeed facing a bureaucratic monster,” St-Pierre Plamondon said outside Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital on Friday. “We need to regain control of this state-owned company.”
St-Pierre Plamondon said a PQ government would not eliminate everything Santé Québec currently does. Functions including centralized purchasing, performance measures and the single-employer model for health-care workers could be maintained under a different structure, he said, while more decisions would be made at the regional and local level.
“It’s not about reforming, but reducing the size of the number of people deciding the same thing,” he said.
To support its argument that Santé Québec has increased bureaucracy, the PQ presented figures comparing staffing at Santé Québec and the Health Ministry.
According to figures presented by the PQ, the Health Ministry had 1,232 employees in March 2024, several months before Santé Québec came into operation. By January 2026, the ministry employed 950 people and Santé Québec 1,176, for a combined total of 2,126.
“We have about 900 more public servants in two years to manage exactly the same network,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, leader of the Parti Québécois, announces his party’s proposal to abolish Santé Québec and redirect spending toward direct patient care, while standing outside Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital in Montreal on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Evan Buhler / Montreal Gazette
The figures are not directly comparable, however. When Santé Québec was created, responsibilities were shifted from the ministry to the new agency, including 894 ministry positions that were formally transferred in January 2025.
St-Pierre Plamondon argues that despite those transfers, the combined bureaucracy has grown and that overlapping administration is where a PQ government would find savings.
Health Minister Sonia Bélanger dismissed the proposal Friday, saying the health network does not need another major restructuring.
“I want to be very clear: Santé Québec is here to stay,” Bélanger said in a statement to The Gazette.
She said the reform brought roughly 30 structures under a single employer in an effort to break down silos, avoid duplication and make better use of resources throughout the network.
“Going backwards would mean once again moving employees, responsibilities, budgets and systems,” she said.
In a separate statement posted on social media, Bélanger said abolishing Santé Québec would amount to a “huge waste of time and resources” and accused the PQ of oversimplifying the challenge of improving access to care.
Santé Québec also defended its record in a statement to The Gazette ahead of Friday’s announcement, saying it had improved access to care, achieved a balanced budget and reduced duplication between health institutions.
It pointed in particular to improvements in surgical wait times and said it had “streamlined administrative processes to free up more time for patient care.”
“Abolishing Santé Québec would once again disrupt network operations and the transformation currently underway,” the organization said.
Santé Québec began operating on Dec. 1, 2024, as part of a sweeping CAQ overhaul of the health-care system.
Before the reform, most health care was managed through more than two dozen regional authorities and independent institutions. Under the new structure, the Health Ministry remained responsible for policy and strategic planning, while Santé Québec became responsible for day-to-day operations.
Then-health minister Christian Dubé promoted the new model as a way to improve services, reduce surgery and emergency-room wait times and improve efficiency. Before Santé Québec began operating, its CEO, Geneviève Biron, said one of her first objectives would be to find $1 billion in savings.
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The Quebec Liberal Party also rejected abolishing Santé Québec Friday, though it agreed more decisions should be made closer to patients.
“The CAQ spent years reorganizing the network. The PQ is now proposing another structural shake-up that will create even more instability in the network,” the party said in a statement to The Gazette.
“Patients need results, not another reform,” the party said. “We need to repair the network, not restructure it yet again.”
Québec solidaire took a similar position, saying it would keep Santé Québec but transfer more decision-making power to the regions.
“A Québec solidaire government would decentralize some of the powers of centralized megastructures, such as Santé Québec, to ensure greater decision-making autonomy for the regions,” the party said.
“It is therefore not a question of abolishing Santé Québec, but simply decentralizing decision-making as much as possible to bring it closer to the ground.”
I’m a reporter at the Montreal Gazette, covering breaking news and the issues affecting communities across Montreal. I believe some of the most interesting stories begin with an ordinary conversation.
amclaughlin@postmedia.com