Reacting on Thursday to concerns voiced by members of Quebec’s English-speaking communities about the changes recently made to the Provincial committee on the dispensing of health and social services in the English language, Christopher Skeete said that he still sees the situation as a positive.
The MNA for Sainte-Rose and Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for Relations with English-Speaking Quebecers said that the changes to the required composition of the committee help to ensure that regional English speaking communities are guaranteed representation. He also argued that taking steps like mandating a member of the committee from Indigenous communities in the province and including a member of the secretariat for relations with English-speaking Quebecers as an observer only stand to be beneficial for the work of the group.
“I see why change is hard,” Skeete said, describing the relationship between English-speaking communities and the government as sometimes being fraught with difficulty.
The CAQ MNA suggested that concerns about the changes to the committee are based more in fear than in reality.
“Nobody in Quebec is out to get the English community,” he argued, noting that even the Parti Quebecois has shown support for the right of English-speakers to receive healthcare in their mother tongue in the past.
Subscribe to The Record for the full story and more
