Sauvé by the bell

After community organizations kicked him out last May, Health Board President Conrad Sauvé gets reappointed anyway

by PHILIP PREVILLE

I called the Montreal Regional Health Board for the first time about three weeks ago on a Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., seeking information about the process by which the Board's executive council members were elected. I promptly received a thorough tongue-lashing from some departmental receptionist, who suggested in all earnestness that it was quite cheeky of me to call just before the weekend and expect to talk to anybody about anything, especially in the middle of summer.

Humorous as it may or may not be, this particular scenario captures the essence of what many community organizations are calling an increasingly serious problem within the Health Board: a lack of accountability.

Denise Ouellet, President of the Regroupement intersectoriel des organismes communautaires de Montréal (RIOC) ­ an organization which is a member of one of the Health Board's electoral colleges ­ is particularly concerned with the accountability issue ever since last May's elections for the Health Board's 24-member executive council. Executive Council President Conrad Sauvé sought re-election through the "community organization" electoral college and was soundly defeated for his role in championing the province's cuts to health care.

But the executive council retains the right to appoint three members of its own choosing and--lo and behold--didn't they reappoint Sauvé to his old job as President. When September arrives, the executive council's first order of business will be to cut an extra $162.5 million from Montreal's health care budget. "I don't know how they can do that," says Ouellet. "Our votes have to mean something, don't they?"

According to Ouellet, 180 community organizations voted in their electoral college last May, and the four elected members received between 90 and 110 votes each; Sauvé finished a distant fifth with about 60 votes. Ouellet says Sauvé's election defeat was deliberate but not personal--Sauvé ran for public office and lost fair and square.

For his part, Sauvé insists he was reappointed honourably, and as for his role in supporting the province's hospital closures, Sauvé says the Health Board had no choice in the matter. "We have no control over how much money the province gives us," he insists. "The cuts were going to happen one way or another. It's far better for people within Montreal's health care organizations to decide how the cuts are to be implemented."

"Besides, as president, I speak on behalf of the executive committee, but I don't make the decisions myself--the executive does."

But for Alice Herscovitch of Project Genesis, also a voting member of the community organizations electoral college, the problem lies in the fact that the Health Board--despite the elected executive council--is accountable only to the provincial government. Both she and Ouellet--and others--see the Health Board as an example of faux decentralization. "Decentralization doesn't put more power into people's hands," Herscovitch says. "It does, however, transfer responsibilities away from politicians by dumping them onto local bureaucracies."

Herscovitch believes the Health Board can be an effective political tool for fighting health care cuts--provided the elected council members have the political will. "The Health Board itself is an opportunity to create power," she says. "It is the representative of Montreal's health care needs to the province and it needs to take that part of its mandate seriously."

With another $162.5 million in cuts coming down the pipe, Herscovitch says the time is now. "The board should stand up and tell the government, 'These cuts are unacceptable.'"