QUÉBEC

Thumbs up… to the Québec government for its comprehensive and accessible public system of child care — a model for the rest of the country.

Thumbs down… to Roland Arpin and his government-appointed commission for recommending that private clinics be allowed to provide publicly insured services.

Thumbs down… to the Montreal-area Anna Laberge hospital for allowing American health corporation Novacept to rent an operating room and staff to test an as-yet unapproved medical procedure.

Thumbs down… to the Québec government for pushing people with developmental and physical disabilities from public, community-based centres into inadequate care in private homes.

Thumbs up… to the City of Montreal for agreeing that its municipal water system should remain public. Community coalitions had been pressing the municipality for years to make a firm decision against privatization.