(Montreal) The government is beginning to lose patience with the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) in its professional testing saga. Minister Sonia Lebel gave him an ultimatum on Tuesday and directly threatened to impose guardianship.
In a message published on the X platform, the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia Lebel, announced that she had asked the Office of Professions to “appoint a controller of governance” responsible for supporting the OIIQ’s board of directors.
This person has a mandate to “ensure that necessary adjustments are made” by the organization.
In the second message, the minister asserted, “This is the last chance for OIIQ to demonstrate its working capacity.”
If the measures taken by the order are not adequately considered in the light of the observations of the independent regulator, the supervision awaits the OIIQ.
In an interview with The Canadian Press, Minister Lebel has not yet named a controller, but clarified that it won’t take long. This person has real power of action and reports their observations to the professional office every 30 days.
The minister says that he is ready for monitoring if the progress is not up to expectations. This controller therefore ensures that the inventory is documented for any possible administrative seizure.
“This is the order’s last chance to act on its own based on the commissioner’s recommendations,” she warned.
Sonia Lebel has publicly asserted that she doubts the OIIQ’s performance and ability to properly govern itself. She said that these measures are being taken for the protection of the public and to maintain credibility and trust in the professional system.
Following three investigation reports from the Commissioner for Admission to Professions, the OIIQ still held that its examination alone was not responsible for the unusually high failure rates in the September 2022 and March 2023 sessions.
However, the latest progress report was given by Commissioner Me André Gariépy concluded that there was nothing to link the failures with supposedly inadequate training as claimed by the OIIQ. Since the start of the saga, the order has considered failures as a consequence of the pandemic’s impact on candidate training.
Moreover, in an open letter published on Monday, President Luke Mathieu continued to indicate that the pandemic was an important factor despite the commissioner’s conclusions.
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