Doctors pack Bell Centre to denounce Quebec’s new health-care law

Thousands of doctors in Quebec are protesting a new provincial law that changes their compensation structure. Genevieve Beauchemin reports.

More than 12,000 doctors packed into the Bell Centre in Montreal, the home of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, to denounce a law overhauling physicians’ work and pay structures. Some wore hockey jerseys, and others wielded placards as they faced off against the Quebec government.

“This law was billed as something that would help access, when in fact, this law is breaking our system,” said Dr. Karine Igartua, psychiatrist and member of the board of the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), representing Quebec’s specialists.

“It’s breaking our doctors, it is demoralizing everybody, and it really needs to be suspended.”

A band called ‘Le Doc Show’, whose members include a pediatrician, a radiologist, and family doctors, provided the soundtrack to the grievances of the crowd composed of generations of doctors.

• READ MORE: What’s in Quebec’s controversial doctors’ bill?

Federations representing medical students, residents, family physicians and specialists have all united to denounce the law, still known as Bill 2, saying it’s authoritarian and dangerous.

Internal medicine specialist Dr. Daniel Kaub wore his lab coat to the protest. He is a second-generation physician, who followed in his father’s footsteps into a profession he says they both still love.

“What they’ve done with this drastic change that was adopted in the legislature through forced means is an affront to our mutual understanding and historical respect between the government, the population and doctors in the province of Quebec,” said Kaub. “And I’m fighting today to maintain that respect.”

The Quebec government invoked closure to pass the law on Oct. 25. Premier François Legault and Health Minister Christian Dubé presented it as a remedy to fix Canada’s most overcrowded emergency rooms and get long surgery waitlists in check.

Among several measures, it ties a percentage of doctors’ salaries to performance targets. It also pays family doctors a fixed sum per patient visit. The government says a change is necessary to improve care, in a province where two million people lack access to primary care.

Video excerpts of both Legault and Dube making their case played out at the Bell Centre rally to loud jeers and boos. Physicians say the new legislation will drive away those practicing in Quebec.

Dr. Lionel Ange Pongui was head of obstetrics and gynecology at a hospital centre in the Outaouais region of Quebec. He stepped down when Bill 2 was adopted, and says he is considering making a move to practice in Ottawa.

“It is just across the river from where I currently practice,” he said. “For a doctor, for a human being who wants to practice and care for patients, the system in Ontario or New Brunswick seems increasingly attractive.”

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) received 250 applications for licensure from Quebec doctors since Oct. 23, compared with 19 applications between June 1 and Oct. 22. Those applications are currently in progress.

Seventy Quebec physicians have applied for a license to practice in New Brunswick.

“So if doctors leave the province, they’re going to be even shorter than they were before. Wait times are going to increase. And if you try to put pressure to see more, you’re going to sacrifice quality of care,” said Canadian Medical Association President Dr. Margot Burnell, who was at the Bell Centre in support of the doctors’ actions.

Physicians say they will continue to speak out against the law, that they believe is inflicting more pain onto the ailing health care system.