Press Room

The aim of the draft bill is to improve the accessibility of civil justice and service quality and promptness. The means proposed in the new Code of Civil Procedure include alternative modes of dispute resolution, more power for judges to intervene, better control of judicial proceedings, greater autonomy for citizens to act within the judicial system, and an increase in the maximum amount for claims brought before the Small Claims Division to $15,000.

In a letter to the Chair of the Committee on Institutions, the Ombudsperson expresses her general approval of the solutions proposed in the draft bill. However, she also makes the legislator aware of the importance of informing citizens about non-judicial recourse, more specifically, in their relations with government. She insists that such a course is crucial to developing trust between citizens and government departments, public agencies, bodies, and other government institutions.

Letter

One of the effects of the bill is to allow the direct deposit of the solidarity tax credit into accounts in financial institutions located outside of Québec. In a letter to the Chair of the Committee on Public Finance, the Ombudsperson welcomes this gain stemming from her recommendation. She notes that the same bill contains a specific deadline for taxpayers to apply to Revenu Québec for an adjustment after being double-taxed on an amount reimbursed by a succession before January 1, 2010. The Ombudsperson believes that this deadline (December 31, 2011) should be extended by two years to give citizens the opportunity to exercise their rights.

Letter

"The major challenges facing public services, including sound management of public monies and workforce mobility, should not be addressed at the cost of citizens’ rights." This is what the Québec Ombudsperson, Raymonde Saint-Germain, cautioned government administrators and employees against when she tabled her 2010-2011 Annual Report in the National Assembly today. In the past year, the Québec Ombudsman has intervened with respect to:

•   61 government departments and public agencies;
• 174 institutions within the health and social services network.

Annual Report

Press releases

Press conference of the Québec Ombudsperson

While welcoming the intention behind Bill 16 to increase protection for the elderly lodged in certified private residences, the Québec Ombudsperson cautions against the possible negative impacts of some of the changes proposed. "Some of the amendments introduced by the bill seem to me to be more a matter of easing for the benefit of operators than of tightening for the benefit of residents," she said.

Brief

Today, the Members of the National Assembly unanimously re-appointed Raymonde Saint-Germain Québec Ombudsperson for a second five-year term of office.

Ms. Saint-Germain has been the Québec Ombudsperson since April 2006. Her investiture coincided with the expansion of the institution’s responsibilities to include second-recourse reception and processing of citizen complaints in the health and social services sector. Her achievements as Québec Ombudsperson include the following special reports: Towards Services that are Better Adjusted to Detainees with Mental Disorders, The Québec Investigative Procedure for Incidents Involving Police Officers, Report on Government Services for Children with PDDs, and Handling of the Listeriosis Crisis Surrounding Québec Cheeses.

"Remedy for a citizen – remedy for all citizens whenever a resolution has a collective impact"—this is what Raymonde Saint-Germain’s team does every day... and why, above and beyond individual processing of complaints, the Québec Ombudsperson proposes preventive action, especially on the legislative front, and conducts system-wide investigations. Since 2006, she has recommended amendments to some 50 bills and draft regulations.

Her recommendations, whether they concern public administration or the health and social services network, always seek to strike a balance between delivery of quality services and responsible use of public monies. Keenly concerned about the plight of the most vulnerable members of our society, the Québec Ombudsperson pays special attention to the impact of public services on these citizens and the efforts made by government departments and agencies to understand them and to adapt accordingly.

Raymonde Saint-Germain has been the senior vice chair of the Association des ombudsmans et médiateurs de la Francophonie (AOMF) since September 2009. In June 2009, she received the Prix Orange award from the Association des groupes d’intervention en défense des droits en santé mentale du Québec for her initiative in leading a system-wide investigation into the infringement of the rights of hospitalized psychiatric patients.

The Québec Ombudsman has 132 full-time employees working out of its offices in Québec City and Montréal. Every year it receives more than 20,000 requests from citizens, groups of citizens or businesses.

The draft regulation introduces a new obligation for holders of a certificate of authorization for certain drilling and fracturing work on gas or petroleum wells, namely, that from now on they must periodically file with the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks the information collected in the course of their activities.

The Québec Ombudsperson is of the opinion that the slate of fines for non-compliance with this obligation varies widely and is unstructured. Given the cost of conducting the required analyses, certificate holders could opt to pay a fine rather than hire an expert, even when sanctions for repeat offences are taken into account.

As Raymonde Saint-Germain points out, it is vital that the regulation fulfill its intentions. She therefore recommends that the Minister strive to make the draft regulation better reflect the spirit and letter of Bill 89 (Act to amend the Environment Quality Act in order to reinforce compliance). To that end, she proposed the following measures:

• set out criteria for determining the fines imposed; and
• formally notify the Government or the Minister of any situation involving repeat offences so that the certificate of authorization issued to the offender can be reconsidered.

Letter

Bill 2 validates the Order in Council dated 11 November 2009 (quashed by the Superior Court of Québec in November 2010), whose specific purpose was to authorize the Minister of Transport to use lots situated in an agricultural zone for purposes other than agriculture (extension of Highway 87).

The Québec Ombudsperson transmitted its comments on the following points to the Chair of the Committee on Transportation and the Environment:

• the importance for the legislator to ensure respect of the rights of all citizens concerned by the effects of the bill by seeing to it that they are treated with justice and fairness and in keeping with democratic values;
• the exceptional nature of any legislative provision retroactive in scope, and, in such case, the need to demonstrate that it is necessary;
• the fair balance that parliamentarians must strike between, on the one hand, exercise of the National Assembly's sovereignty, and, on the other, its values and procedural fairness.

Letter

Although Revenu Québec's status changed as it became Agence du revenu du Québec, the Québec Ombudsman is still the taxpayers' advocate. All taxpayers, including individuals, businesses, and organizations, are reminded that they can call on the Québec Ombudsman to handle any complaints about Agence du revenu.

Press release

The proposed changes in the Act to improve the management of the health and social services network will have little practical or immediate effect on the improvement of services to the public. "Access to clearly defined, well-integrated and well-dispensed services at a reasonable cost requires a simplification of structures, strengthened accountability and clarification of the basket of services, which are not addressed in this bill," stated Raymonde Saint-Germain.

Press release

Speech

The Québec Ombudsman is making available the findings of selected investigations online. This will apply to investigations into both the public administration and the health and social services sectors. You can follow the findings of the Québec Ombudsman's investigations by subscribing to our RSS feed.

The Québec Ombudsperson has written to Minister Raymond Bachand, expressing her concern about Bill 117, which provides for mandatory automatic transfer of the new solidarity tax credit. Although she supports the principle of automatic transfers of funds, since they reduce the Government's administrative costs, Ms. Saint-Germain is worried that people who do not have an account with a financial institution will be unable to obtain the new credit.

The Québec Ombudsperson's letter

The Québec Ombudsperson has made recommendations to the Minister of Health and Social Services, aimed at correcting a number of problems with the implementation of an Act that is applicable in certain exceptional circumstances only. During the Québec Ombudsman's investigations, some significant disparities were observed in the way the Act is applied in different institutions and regions, and by different people involved in the process.

Report

Press release

The Québec Ombudsperson contacted the Minister of Sustainable Development, Environment and Parks regarding the draft regulation amending the activities framework of the proposed Samuel-De Champlain Biodiversity Reserve. The draft regulation provides that the government may authorize gas and oil exploration. The Ombudsperson recommends that such activities not be carried out in a proposed or existing biodiversity reserve.

The Québec Ombudsperson's Letter