des Collines

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts

Local Journalism Initiative / The Low Down / March 28, 2025 / CISSSO, des Collines, Health cuts, Healthcare, Low, Masham, Outaouais, Santé Québec, SOS Outaouais

By Trevor Greenway

After slashing 800 health positions across the Outaouais, the head of CISSSO says that he still needs to cut an additional $30 million from its budget, money that will “certainly” result in more job losses.

The CISSSO was mandated by the province’s new health department, Santé Québec, to slash $90 million from its budget in an overall effort to cut $1.5 billion from the province’s health sector by April 1. Last week, CISSSO announced it was cutting 800 health jobs as part of the cuts. However, CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau told the Low Down on March 20 that those cuts only represented two-thirds – $60 million of budget cuts – with an additional $30 million coming down the pike.

“I think it’s unavoidable,” said Bilodeau when asked if the next round of cuts will result in job losses. “Because 70 per cent of my expenditures are related to human resources, so expecting to cut without impacting positions is almost impossible.”

While many of the 800 positions cut last week were vacant, with 104 personnel losing their jobs, Bilodeau says the next round of budget cuts will be especially difficult. He said the first round of cuts was focused on the “easy stuff,” like abolishing vacant positions. He admitted that there would be an impact on residents. He added that not all of the impacts of the cuts would be bad.

“There would be some impact, but impact doesn’t mean, necessarily, negative impact,” said Bilodeau. “So it could have an impact on how the care is delivered but not necessarily on the amount of care being delivered.”

Dr. Bilodeau used the example of adapting patients with “very common mental health problems” into group therapy settings rather than one-on-one sessions: “I can have 10 patients in the same room with one healthcare provider, and I can do, basically, 10 times more than what I would do with a one-on-one intervention.” He added that managing hours, morale and work-life balance for front-line staffers will be key to moving forward successfully.

Bilodeau said about two-thirds of the 104 health jobs cut in the region are front-line staff positions, but he added that many have been offered other positions “in more critical areas of our healthcare system.”

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that, while the 800 job losses aren’t as dire as recent headlines suggest, the fact that over 600 vacant positions won’t be renewed kills any chance of recruiting more doctors, nurses or medical technicians to an already underfunded health region. According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec.

“We need to point our fingers at the government here,” said Pigeon. “They are the ones who are making these decisions. And clearly this is not Mr. Bilodeau’s fault. It’s just going to create an overwhelming burden again in the workplace environment. Can we really let go of people that we need in a network that is underfunded and understaffed? No, it’s just chaotic.”

Three full-time positions abolished in Des Collines

According to health watchdog group Vigi Santé, the cuts will be felt locally, as three full-time positions in the Des Collines are being abolished: one at the CHSLD in Masham and two admin positions related to proximity services.

“Two of them are actual job losses; the third one is a reassignment,” said Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand.

Chartrand also noted that a 0.5 nursing position is being moved from the Masham CLSC to Cantley. Chartrand added that the cuts are also suspending key projects in the region, including a new seniors’ home in Masham and a multi-purpose, permanent vaccination centre in the Des Collines region. “We are told time and again that services are not and will not be affected,” said Chartrand. “Hard to believe, as with fewer resources, there will be delays in providing services, and waiting times will be extended.”

No decision on CLSC in Low, yet

Dr. Bilodeau told the Low Down that, while there isn’t yet an official decision to cut services at the CLSC in Low to one day a week, he did say that “measures are on the table.”

“Obviously, some of those places like Low could be affected,” said Bilodeau. “I’m not saying they will be because it’s still being analyzed now, and we haven’t made a decision as to where it’s going to be with the last $30 million that we need to cut.” Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not return the Low Down’s calls for comments.

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‘We’ve been abandoned’

Local Journalism Initiative / The Low Down / March 20, 2025 / budget cuts, CISSS de l’Outaouais, CISSSO, des Collines, health crisis, jobs, Outaouais, Trevor Greenway

By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Hills healthcare advocates say the provincial government has made the Outaouais health crisis worse by cutting a staggering 800 healthcare jobs from the region.

The cuts were announced March 14 as part of the province’s austerity measures, which will see $1.5 billion slashed from Quebec’s healthcare network – $90 million of that coming out of the CISSS de l’Outaouais’s (CISSSO) budget.

While a majority of the positions cut are currently vacant, SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the impact will be felt tenfold across the region.

“There’s basically no amelioration for the healthcare network,” Pigeon told the Low Down. “It’s basically longer waiting times, fewer access and limited access to the healthcare system, and if you look at just recent numbers, most of our emergency wards are at 250 per cent of their capacity,” he added, referring to emergency departments at the Gatineau and Hull hospitals.

Pigeon said his organization is concerned that two-thirds of the $90 million cut from the Outaouais will come in the form of job losses. While many of them were already vacant (about 100 actual jobs are being cut, according to CISSSO), he said he feels that not filling vacant positions in departments like medical scans and imagery, which are already operating at just 40 per cent capacity, will have a domino effect on healthcare in the Outaouais, where there are currently 78,000 residents in the Outaouais without a family doctor and nearly 7,500 in the des Collines region.

“We’re in the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had for healthcare, and nobody seems to care about our region. We’ve been abandoned,” said Pigeon. He added that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. “I just think it’s going to get worse and worse because we should be fully in the mode of recruiting and keeping our staff. Now we’re telling staff to move away.”

Patient waited 230 hours

Pigeon referred to a patient in the Gatineau Hospital, who, during the March 1 weekend, spent “more than 230 hours in the emergency room,” while being treated for a mental health episode, according to CISSSO. The patient spent nearly 10 days on a hospital stretcher before he got a bed.

“Before he actually got services and someone took him into care, he waited for 230 hours,” said Pigeon. “It’s unbelievable.”

Dr. Peter Bonneville, the president of the Conseil des médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens (CMDP) of the CISSSO and an ER doctor at the Gatineau Hospital told the Low Down he feels that CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau has done a “fantastic job,” given that his first mandate from Santé Québec was to slash $90 million from a health budget that has been bleeding for over a decade.

What he doesn’t agree with, however, is how CISSSO was forced to cut $90 million out of its budget but the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, which is comparable to the Outaouais, only had to cut close to $40 million.

“That’s a region that has just a bit less population than us, but has, right now, way better access to healthcare,” said Bonneville. “They have more active operating rooms right now, more specialists for the region.”

It’s important to note that while the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region is comparable in population to the Outaouais, it’s an isolated northern area where there are not many options for health care. While Outaouais patients can travel to Montreal or Ottawa for emergencies, patients in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region don’t have the same options.

“I will keep on hammering the fact that we are under budgeted by, apparently, about $180 million a year,” Bonneville continued, “So basically, Santé Québec is putting a gun to the head of CISSSO, and they’re saying, ‘You need to do it.’”

Working conditions not ideal, but necessary

Dr. Bonneville told the Low Down that although he is the most senior member of staff at the Gatineau Hospital, he doesn’t expect seniority perks like weekends off or preferred shifts. As a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath, he said he’s aware of the region’s crisis and will do anything he needs to do to help.

“I still do weekends. I still do holidays. I worked all of New Year’s week, evening shifts,” Bonneville told the Low Down. He said that during the budgeting exercise, CISSSO realized that it was overstaffing day shifts and more staffers will now be moved out of their “cozy day shift” and into an evening or night shift. While it may not be ideal for some, he said it’s the reality of the current landscape.

“I mean, if I am still doing it, I think everybody needs to contribute,” he said. “And you know, it’s nice to have a cozy job where you’re working day shifts, but that’s not the reality of healthcare.”

CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau did not respond to the Low Down’s request for comment by press time nor did the region’s MNA, Robert Bussière.

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