Provincial chief medical officers navigate rocky road as COVID-19 drags on

The abrupt departure of Quebec's public health director last week was further evidence of the rocky road being navigated by the country's chief medical officers.

The abrupt departure of Quebec’s public health director last week was further evidence of the rocky road being navigated by the country’s chief medical officers as the Omicron wave pushes the pandemic fight toward a third year.

Quebec’s Dr. Horacio Arruda, who had been public health director since 2012, cited criticism about the government’s handling of the latest wave as he abruptly resigned Monday after 22 months overseeing the province’s pandemic response.

“Recent comments about the credibility of our opinions and our scientific rigour are undoubtedly causing a certain erosion of public support,” Arruda wrote in a letter offering his resignation.

It was a far cry from March 2020, when Arruda was among the group of top provincial health officers on the job when the pandemic hit. Arruda and the others, including B.C.’s Dr. Bonnie Henry, Alberta’s Dr. Deena Hinshaw and Nova Scotia’s Dr. Robert Strang, rose to prominence almost overnight, offering reassuring voices in a time of crisis.

“In the beginning, when we didn’t know what we didn’t know, and there was a great deal of uncertainty, the chief medical officer played an incredibly useful role, as they are intended to do – to be the public face of government and explain what is going on,” said Patrick Fafard, a University of Ottawa professor of public and international affairs who has been studying the role of the country’s medical officers.

“Their status in media terms or public opinion has declined – some of that is inevitable, but it’s also because of the tensions and contradictions in the role.”

Fafard said while the medical officers play an advisory role, each province views the role differently. In an extended pandemic, when the scientific evidence is evolving quickly, they’ve had to reconcile diverging views and governments that don’t make decisions based on science alone. They are often left to explain the policies, even though the decisions ultimately lie with the politicians.

Most of those on the job in 2020 remain in place, with the exception of Arruda and Ontario’s Dr. David Williams, who had been subject to criticism before he retired last year.