The provincial minister of health, Gaétan Barrette, called a last minute closed door meeting at McGill University on Wednesday evening. At hand was a proposal to merge west-end hospital systems, including the Jewish General Hospital, with the MUHC system.
It was billed as a "public consultation" but in attendance were mostly journalists, hospital board officials and McGill executives.
Most notably, patients-rights groups were excluded from this first meeting. They've been highly critical of any proposed mergers, since they say it could significantly reduce access to, and quality of, healthcare for those living in the west end.
But the provincial government and the MUHC has made one thing clear: this is just the start of a long consultation process. Over the coming months, more meetings will be held to gauge the needs and views of the public, as well as physicians and employees within the various organizations.
Any proposed merger wouldn't come into effect until after the 2018 provincial election, adding yet another layer of uncertainty to this process.