Open this photo in gallery:
Santé Québec says it saved the province $1.9-billion since its creation, mostly by reducing the use of travel nurses and other agency temporary staff, which saved $1.7-billion in almost two years.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Hours after the election of the Parti Québécois, which pledged to dismantle Santé Québec, the provincial health authority released a Deloitte Canada report stating it had achieved nearly $2-billion in cost savings since it started operations in December, 2024.
PQ Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party will form a minority government, promised during the campaign to abolish Santé Québec, calling it “a bureaucratic monster.”
The Deloitte report was officially released Tuesday morning although it had been leaked to La Presse previously. Santé Québec wanted to wait until the end of the election campaign so it wouldn’t interfere in the political debate, Catherine Brousseau, the health authority’s spokeswoman, said.
The report was commissioned by Santé Québec’s board of directors in July. It said the organization had saved $1.9-billion since its creation, mostly by reducing the use of travel nurses and other agency temporary staff, which saved $1.7-billion in almost two years.
Many of those savings can be traced back to the outgoing Coalition Avenir Québec government, which made it a priority to eliminate agency personnel and reduce health care staffing – but the Deloitte report includes updated numbers.
Opinion: The PQ is back in office without a lot of people power behind the next premier
The total time worked by temporary agency staff in Quebec’s health care system has shrunk by 86 per cent in nearly two years and overtime costs are also down, according to the report. Furthermore, the increase in health care personnel slowed from an annual average of 4.7 per cent in the 2019-2023 period to 0.8 per cent for 2025-2026.
The Deloitte analysis added that there were also unquantified savings from having Santé Québec act as a sole purchaser on behalf of the 30 regional health authorities and university hospital networks that it oversees.
“The initiatives undertaken have generated tangible benefits. In light of trends observed during major mergers and integrations, additional investments could support the continued realization of synergies and benefits,” the report said.
During the election campaign, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon floated different scenarios to replace Santé Québec, with either a smaller agency, a task force or a branch of the provincial Health Department.
Meeting reporters following the election, he said a “governmental efficiency secretariat” would be created to reduce bureaucracy and “superfluous programs.”
Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has said that abolishing Santé Québec would save up to $100-million a year and complained that its staffing was bloated, calling it “a second mammoth” since it took over some of the functions previously handled by the province’s Health Department.
Five takeaways from the Quebec election results
The Deloitte report, however, noted that 94 per cent of the 1,192 headquarter’s employees had been transferred from the Health Department and only 66 were new hires.
Santé Québec has been the public body providing health care services and managing the system daily since it was formed, while the Health Department sets strategic goals.
Contacted for comments on Tuesday, Christian Dubé, the former CAQ health minister who initiated Santé Québec, referred The Globe and Mail to the findings in the Deloitte report and to an open letter he made public in September.
“Quebeckers want a better healthcare system, not another reform,” Mr. Dubé wrote in the open letter, arguing that the changes he initiated in 2024 couldn’t show its full impact within a four-year electoral cycle.
Santé Québec was created by legislative act and abolishing it would require another law.
The PQ is five seats short of a legislative majority. Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon acknowledged that his government will need the collaboration of opposition parties to pass its bills.
He noted that he shared similar views on tightening public spendings with Eric Duhaime’s Conservatives, who won 19 seats. “Our desire to better manage public finances after years of wastage should find a friendly ear among the Conservatives,” the premier-designate said.