Quebec confirms appointment of Dr. Luc Boileau as national director of public health. He has held this position on an interim basis since January, after briefly replacing his predecessor Dr. Horacio Arruda replaced.
Posted 5:54pm Updated 6:28pm
Vincent Larin The Press
Lea Carrier The Press
Luc Boileau will therefore fill this position in addition to that of deputy deputy minister at the Ministry of Health and Social Services from June 16, the post of Prime Minister François Legault confirmed on Wednesday.
Recall that after 22 months of the pandemic, he took over from Dr. Horacio Arruda had taken when the Legault government was heavily criticized for its handling of the fifth wave of COVID-19.
Michèle de Guise will take over as President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute of Excellence in Health and Social Services (INESS), effective June 16, a position she also previously held as President of the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) will go to Pierre-Gerlier Forest, Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of Calgary, who will begin his new term on July 4.
In Quebec, the national director of public health is also the deputy deputy secretary of health. However, the existence of these “two hats” has been criticized for the past year. Several voices, including the College of Physicians of Quebec, have called for full political independence for the national director of public health, calling for an overhaul of the role.
Luc Boileau served as President of the Montérégie Health and Social Services Agency from 1993 to 2008. He then served as President of INSPQ from 2008 to 2015. He then served as President of INESS from 2015 to January 2022.