cuts

Nelson Sergerie, LJI Journalist

GASPÉ – The CISSS de la Gaspésie has proposed a $566 million budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which began on April 1. It’s a balanced budget, but it faces a major challenge to achieve it because cuts will be required to do so.

President and CEO Martin Pelletier indicates that it’s a closed budget.

“In the measures we’ve tabled, there’s a budget restriction target of $30 million, but there’s a $20 million measure regarding the liberation of independent workers, which will be difficult to achieve,” emphasizes Mr. Pelletier. There remains $10 million to be found: $1 million will come from the closure of various collection centres located in leased spaces, such as the one at Place Jacques-Cartier in Gaspé, which had drawn criticism.

However, the three collection centres in Baie-des-Chaleurs will remain open, as the CISSS has no availability in its own premises.

Among other cost-saving measures, tightening working hours is expected to contribute to the savings goal.

“There are measures to review work teams at the clinical and administrative levels, even though our supervision rate is very low. There are measures that provide for non-replacements. Posted positions will not be (filled). Ultimately, there will be fewer hours worked in the coming year to raise this $10 million outside of independent labour,” explains Mr. Pelletier.

There is no question of reducing services at the 24/7 emergency departments of CLSCs in communities like Grande-Vallée, Murdochville, and Paspébiac.

Even though the CEO has been firm on this point since last fall, elected officials, particularly in the Estran sector, remain concerned, especially since there are strong protests for similar emergency rooms in Trois-Pistoles and Pohénégamook, in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.

“We’re not touching these emergency rooms. There’s no provincial signal to close smaller emergency rooms. We have specific characteristics that make us more isolated than elsewhere. It’s harder to say we could close these emergency rooms. And when we consider a nighttime closure, a doctor often comes in for 24 hours as a backup. The staff we would save at night and who would be redeployed means we’re not really saving money. It would take a total closure to save money, and that’s out of the question. It’s a question of access to care across our vast territory, something we’re trying to explain to head office,” Mr. Pelletier reaffirms.

The debate over recognizing the specificities of the Gaspé remains an ongoing battle.
“The idea is to have basic services throughout the territory for 80,000 people with four local networks. To make this efficient, it would require one hospital for 80,000 people. There are places where we can do better and with new clinical practices. We must adapt to this, but the fact remains that there are basic services that require a cost to maintain,” Mr. Pelletier explains.