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QUEBEC — The province has the longest emergency wait times in the country and among the worst in the Western world, a new independent study concludes.

But a clearly irritated Quebec health minister Gaétan Barrette rapidly downplayed the report, saying its conclusions are nothing new to him and he’s already acted on most of its recommendations.

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He said it may be “spectacular” to compare Quebec to other countries as the report does, but that changes nothing here.

“The report does not say things are deteriorating,” Barrette said. “Things are actually improving in Quebec.”

The opposition, however, wasn’t buying his explanation, describing the fresh numbers as alarming, heaping the blame at Barrette’s feet. The minister has only his “arrogant contemptuous attitude” to blame for a lack of co-operation from doctors to fix the mess, Parti Québécois health critic Diane Lamarre said.

“It’s Quebecers who pay the price,” Lamarre said at a news conference.