The province takes over the hospital

The Government of canada passed the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act in 1957, but Premier Maurice Duplessis refused to apply it in Quebec, arguing that health care was a provincial jurisdiction. It was only on January 1, 1961 that the province, under Premier Jean Lesage, instituted a program giving the public free access to hospital services. This was the beginning of a period of transition for the Saint-Joseph Hospital, which had to adapt and integrate into an increasingly government-managed system.

In 1974, the hospital changed its name to the centre hospitalier de Lachine and officially passed from the hands of the Sisters of Providence to the provincial government.

Dr. Lionel Lafleur at work in the radiology room in 1967.