Santé Québec dismisses its vice-president

Frédéric Abergel, Santé Québec executive vice-president of operations and transformation, provides an update on the overflow situation at Montreal emergency rooms in Montreal on Friday, Jan.10, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press) (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

Less than a year after being appointed executive vice-president at Santé Québec, Frédéric Abergel has been dismissed from the government agency.

Santé Québec President and CEO Geneviève Biron made the announcement in a news release on Monday.

“After a few months in operation, I have made a number of observations that have led me to make changes to the executive team to bring it even closer to the field,” Biron said in the release.

A spokesperson for her office specified the choice was Biron’s as she wants to make changes to her executive committee.

Biron said she will be directly supervising the teams concerned until a replacement is found.

Santé Québec’s Board of Directors has ratified the decision.

Health Minister Christian Dubé posted on the social network Bluesky saying the decision was Santé Québec’s to make as an independent body. The agency was created to streamline health-care services.

“I have full confidence in the competence of the people who run the organization and sit on the Board of Directors. This decision will bring management closer to operations and improve services to the public,” wrote Dubé.

He went on to say that the ministry’s guidelines are clear and its objectives ambitious. He said that Abergel’s former duties were “crucial” to the achievement of the objectives and “to the success of this major transformation.”

The new government health agency officially started operations in December 2024. Abergel was previously President and CEO of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and the CIUSS du Nord-de-l'Île-de-Montréal.

The government mandated Santé Québec to eliminate $1.5 billion in spending to return the network to a balanced budget.

Vincent Marrissal, Québec Solidaire’s health critic, pointed out that Abergel was one of the only managers to come from the public network as Biron came from the private system.

Joël Arseneau of the Parti Québécois said it was a failure on Dubé‘s part as the minister appointed Abergel.

“Chosen for his knowledge of the network, dismissed so that ‘the executive team can get closer to the field.’ A bad omen,” Arseneau wrote on X network.

Liberal Party interim leader Marc Tanguay also took to social media to criticize Dubé, saying the health-care network is “worse than ever.”

“Less than three months after the launch of Santé Québec, number 1 has just fired number 2,” he said.

“Quebecers do not have access to health services. Another failure of this bad Legault government, at the end of its regime.”