Quebec's ombudsman says budget cuts infringe on citizens' rights

Quebec's ombudsmanhas published a scathing report in which she says the Couillard government's budget cuts have resulted in a decline in public services.

Raymonde Saint-Germainfocuses in particular on how health care services have been negatively affected by the government's belt-tightening measures.

"Some citizens' rights have been infringed. Some illegal administrative fees have been imposed to them that were not, according to me, the best choice to make," she said.

Saint-Germainsaid more and more doctors are referring patients to private practices in order to get faster test results, but most of the practices charge high fees for the tests.

"According to me this is a danger. It might endanger the universality of health services and this is not something that is good for the health of the population," she said.

Ombudsmaninvestigating MUHC parking fees

Saint-Germain confirmed shewas investigating the parking rates at theMcGillUniversity Health Centre after theUsers' Committee filed a complaint with her office.

While she said her office had not come to a decision on the matter, they had filed reports on other hospitals with high parking fees.

• MUHC hospital parking rates questioned by CDN-NDG councillor

"We believe that excessive fees should not be imposed," she said.

"This is a private operation, I agree with that, but they have the opportunity to operate this private enterprise just beside the hospital, for the user of the hospitals. This should be more regulated in order to have reasonable fees imposed to the users."