Tessera

BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Although Premier Christine Fréchette announced today the green light for two pilot projects involving digital health records with Epic Systems, Quebec has nixed the idea of partnering with the U.S. company for a province-wide rollout.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Exclusive: Quebec drops U.S. firm for provincewide rollout of electronic medical records

On May 9, Santé Québec will launch two pilot projects with Wisconsin-based Epic Systems digitizing patients' files.

montrealgazette.com

1) BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: The McGill University Health Centre is cancelling a phone line for patients to schedule their blood tests, forcing them to use the Clic Santé website which is often booked solid for weeks in advance. Please click on my story below. montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Exclusive: MUHC cancels phone line for booking blood tests

Patients will have to go online to schedule appointments for bloodwork and other sampling procedures, but spots are often full.

montrealgazette.com

1) BREAKING: Although Santé Québec's board of directors on Thursday approved plans for digital health records, Premier Christine Fréchette warned the projects won't proceed unless security guarantees are obtained to safeguard patient data. montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Premier Fréchette insists on 'security guarantees' for Santé Québec's digital health records

Digital sovereignty concerns have arisen as Epic Systems of the U.S. will store patient records on its servers.

montrealgazette.com

1) Less than 3 weeks away from deployment, Santé Québec's pilot projects for digital health records have already turned into a PR disaster. Let us consider some of the major problems. Please check out my analysis about this in the @mtlgazette.bsky.social below.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Analysis: Santé Québec's digital health plans are a PR disaster

Health Minister Sonia Bélanger warned Tuesday she retains the right to veto the two pilot projects.

montrealgazette.com

1) In response to my exposé today, Santé Québec announced it will reinstate an ER indicator on its online dashboard that used to exist when Health Minister Christian Dubé managed the info. At the same time, Santé Québec has faulted my reporting for being "false." Let me reply.

1) BREAKING: In what appears to be another sign of a lack of transparency by Santé Québec, it has dropped from its medical dashboard several targets to reduce emergency room overcrowding. Thus, the public has no idea if those targets are being met or not. montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Exclusive: Santé Québec drops targets for reducing ER overcrowding from medical dashboard

"They've definitely taken a lot of the ER stats away," says a highly placed source.

montrealgazette.com

Heart surgeons are furious with how Santé Québec appears to be playing down the crisis in premature deaths among patients on lengthy wait lists for cardiac surgery. Santé Québec is also being accused of gaslighting the public on wait times. My latest.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Santé Québec 'minimizing' deaths of heart patients on wait lists, surgeon says

The organization managing Quebec health care says "the medical reality is complex" when it comes to patients dying before surgery.

montrealgazette.com

1) In response to my story in @mtlgazette.bsky.social today, Santé Québec has posted a comment on X that it wishes to "provide certain clarifications in order to properly situate the facts and the context." This statement, in itself, is misleading. Let me explain. x.com/sante_qc/sta...

Santé Québec on X: "À la suite d’une publication et d’un article diffusés par Aaron Derfel, nous souhaitons apporter certaines précisions afin de bien situer les faits et le contexte. Il est important pour nous d’offrir une information juste et complète au public. https://t.co/LlP6xpopoe" / X

À la suite d’une publication et d’un article diffusés par Aaron Derfel, nous souhaitons apporter certaines précisions afin de bien situer les faits et le contexte. Il est important pour nous d’offrir une information juste et complète au public. https://t.co/LlP6xpopoe

x.com

1) EXCLUSIVE: Santé Québec, which took over the management of the province's troubled health-care system, is now being accused of gaslighting the public on wait times for heart surgery. The reality is patients are still dying before their operations. montrealgazette.com/news/health/...

Exclusive: Santé Québec accused of gaslighting public on heart surgery stats

"If you don't want to face the problem, just ignore it," Dr. Bernard Cantin says of the missing data.

montrealgazette.com

Tale of Two Cities: How Montreal's anti-ICE protesters are treated compared to those on the streets of Minneapolis. One of The Gazette's new hires, Leora Schertzer, risks pepper spray to report from the scene. Please read her story below.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

ICE protest outside GardaWorld's Montreal headquarters leads to arrest

The Montreal-based security giant GardaWorld is reportedly helping staff the Florida detention site known as “Alligator Alcatraz."

montrealgazette.com

1) My heart goes out to those slain in Tumbler Ridge, including five children as young as 12. My sympathies also to the 27 injured. The focus should be on them, not the assailant. But I would like to draw your attention to this article in the National Post. nationalpost.com/news/canada/...

The Tumbler Ridge shooter was a trans female. How rare is that?

Transgender people account for less than a tenth of one per cent of mass shootings, despite making up a larger proportion of the population.

nationalpost.com

Rachel Maddow@maddow.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Kudos to ace reporter @hsnorth.bsky.social of the @mtlgazette.bsky.social for his terrific exposé on the connection between a possible ICE detention centre in New Jersey and the company's Montreal business ties. Please support local journalism.

montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

1) BREAKING: Quebec has gone from being a net importer of physicians from other provinces to a net exporter of them to other parts of Canada because of the provincial government's doctors' pay law. Please see my story below. 👇 montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

At least seven Quebec doctors have accepted job offers in New Brunswick

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick has issued 24 licenses to Quebec doctors since last October.

montrealgazette.com

BREAKING: A fake and potentially fatal cough syrup aimed at teens wanting to get high is making a cruel comeback in the Montreal area. Please see my story below.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Montreal public health warns of killer cough syrup aimed at teens

A Laval teen died of an overdose in 2023 after consuming the tainted liquid.

montrealgazette.com

1) The Douglas Mental Health University Institute, which was founded in 1881, hasn't undergone much renovation since Queen Victoria was alive. On Monday, the ceilings literally caved in. See my story below about Quebec's crumbling medical infrastructure.👇 montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Burst pipes cause widespread flooding in research labs at Douglas Institute

"The situation here is appalling, both for the patients but also for the research centre," said researcher Sylvain Williams. "It's really unfortunate because the Douglas is a leader in Canada and the ...

montrealgazette.com

1) At a time when some U.S. news organizations have yielded to pressure by Donald Trump, it's heartening to see The New York Times publish this editorial today: How Trump has enriched himself by $1.4 billion in a staggering series of corrupt quid pro quos. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Opinion | How Trump Has Used the Presidency to Make at Least $1.4 Billion

The president took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he’s focused his second term on enriching himself and his family.

nytimes.com

To whom does your medical file or your children's belong? To yourself? Or to Santé Québec or to Epic Systems in the United States? Please read my story below to gain more insight into the future of digital health care as it rolls out in Quebec this May. montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

U.S. firm involved in Quebec's digital health records faces major lawsuit in Texas

The lawsuit alleges Wisconsin-based Epic Systems restricts parental access to children's medical files and is maintaining a monopoly.

montrealgazette.com

1) Great front page in The Gazette today: How the political winds shifted instantly with Premier Françcois Legault's resignation this week, and how this is already shaping next October's momentous provincial election.

1) Comment mener une vie inspirante et enrichissante. Lisez cette incroyable nécrologie du géographe Henri Dorion, décédé à l'âge de 90 ans. www.ledevoir.com/actualites/9...?

Le géographe Henri Dorion est décédé

Les frontières septentrionales du Québec et la toponymie étaient au cœur de ses travaux.

ledevoir.com

1) How François Legault's political Achilles' heel was likely his stark record in (mis?)managing health care in Quebec, setting the stage for his resignation on Wednesday. montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Analysis: Health care was François Legault's Achilles' heel

"We've never had as many people in the emergency wards than now," said patent-rights advocate Paul Brunet, referring to the premier's record on health care.

montrealgazette.com

1) Innovative journalism: The Gazette's @hsnorth.bsky.social has compared Uber and Lyft rates and found that — for now at least — Lyft is much cheaper in Montreal. Take note, young Montrealers! montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Uber vs. Lyft: I tracked prices for a week and it changed how I book rides

The Gazette's Harry North compared ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft on 100 routes in Montreal to find out which was cheaper.

montrealgazette.com

1) A must-read exposé by Radio-Canada today that lifts the veil behind the nightclubbing mystique of Boulevard Saint-Laurent: sexual assaults, syringes and evidence of the date-rape drug GHB. Excellent reporting by @mariannedepelteau.bsky.social ici.radio-canada.ca/recit-numeri...

Sous les néons du boulevard Saint-Laurent

Sortir à Montréal en 2026, ça ressemble à quoi? De l’insécurité à l'anglicisation, en passant par les nouveaux anges gardiens de la nuit, Radio-Canada s’est invitée dans les coulisses nocturnes de la ...

ici.radio-canada.ca

1) Will Quebec's Dossier santé numérique — already busting its budget by $135 million — turn out to be worse than the SAAQclic fiasco? Here's my interview this afternoon with CJAD's Aaron Rand to discuss why nurses will still use paper when digital health files roll out. omny.fm/shows/montre...

An inside look into Quebec's failed digital health rollout - Montreal Now with Aaron Rand Podcast

Aaron Derfel, Investigative reporter at the Montreal Gazette, joins Aaron Rand to explain what went wrong with Quebec's digital health system, and why the cost keeps climbing

omny.fm

1) On this, the last day of the year, I urge you to read a book that's received scant attention in 2025, a short history of arguably the most fascinating newspaper in Canada — in fact, a daily that predates Confederation, and that happens to be my place of work, The Gazette.

1) BREAKING: Freezing rain that turned sidewalks into sheets of ice have sent scores of Montrealers to hospital emergency rooms with broken limbs and even concussions. My story below, along with some additional observations. 👇 montrealgazette.com/news/local-n...

Icy weather sends Montrealers to ERs with fractures and concussions

Meanwhile, Quebec's wave of flu infections is already higher than last year's peak, driven by a new strain.

montrealgazette.com

1) Just two days before Christmas, a small Montreal media outlet that I used to support has decided to publish something truly nasty about The Gazette Christmas Fund. Of all the things that this outlet could report on, it chooses this subject. For shame!

1) BREAKING: Quebec's flu season is ramping up sharply and much earlier than in previous years, placing a greater burden on pediatric emergency rooms. Those over 65 and between the ages of 5 to 19 are particularly vulnerable. In this thread, I will review the latest trends.