Staffing shortages forced the Hôtel-Dieu-d’Arthabaska to suspend childbirth services twice in recent weeks. According to local media reports, the closures occurred once in mid-August and again in early September, leaving expectant mothers in Quebec’s Arthabaska-L’Érable electoral district to seek care at hospitals in Drummondville and Trois-Rivières.
The Struggle for Regional Equity
The service gaps have become a flashpoint for political candidates. Working conditions and salaries aren’t evolving quickly enough,” Poirier said.
Poirier argues the problem is structural, claiming a regional imbalance where specialized medical services are concentrated north of the St. Lawrence River, leaving the Centre-du-Québec region underserved.
Competing Visions for Administrative Reform
Alex Boissonneault, the incumbent Parti Québécois (PQ) candidate, suggests the solution lies in geography and governance. He proposed splitting the Mauricie and Centre-du-Québec into separate sociosanitary regions to ensure local needs are met. “We’re not being served optimally here,” Boissonneault said.
While Boissonneault called for sustained access to childbirth services, he avoided criticizing frontline staff, focusing instead on how administrative reorganization could improve resource allocation.
Recruitment Versus Decentralization
Other candidates are targeting the pipeline of medical talent. Keven Brasseur of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) pointed to a shortage of specialists despite the 2024 establishment of a university family medicine group in Victoriaville. “If medical students don’t study here and experience our communities, they won’t choose to stay,” Brasseur said.
Meanwhile, the Conservative and Liberal platforms emphasize retention and autonomy. Liberal candidate Thomas Guérette focused on improving “accessibility and working conditions.” Tarek Henoud, the Quebec Conservative candidate, attacked the current bureaucracy, arguing that “decisions should be made on the ground, not in distant offices.” Henoud has pledged to decentralize healthcare governance to empower local staff.
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