Paramedic Strike: Quebec ambulance workers lowest paid in Canada

Paramedics across Quebec are tired and overworked – many forced to do overtime – with little to no breaks they say. Those under the Federation of Prehospital Employees of Quebec which accounts for 40 ambulance services in the province, are on strike – asking for better pay and better working conditions.

“The working conditions just are getting worse and worse,” says Jean-François Gagné, who has been a paramedic for 18 years in Quebec’s capital. “I really hope that we could get to an agreement soon. We don’t want we don’t like to be on strike.”

BACKGROUND: Paramedics strike at 40 Quebec ambulance services, want pay increase

“It’s a vicious cycle that we need to break right now because we want to have some paramedics take care of our elderly and if we don’t react soon enough, well, I don’t know where we’ll be in a couple of years.”

The strike will not impact the level of care provided to patients as the service is essential, but paramedics will stop doing certain administrative tasks.

Gagné, who is also part of the FPHQ Labour Relations, says the problem lies with the government, “they don’t want to put the money to actualize the system. We’re kind of like 30 years backwards.”

On average paramedics in Quebec are paid the lowest across Canada with the starting salary at roughly $23 an hour.

Paramedic salaries across Canada. (Photo Credit: CityNews)

“The health care budget is in the tens of billions of dollars and there are only about 7,500 paramedics, in fact. So you could come to an agreement, pay them their proper worth, treat them properly, show them respect and appreciation, and still not make a dent in the overall health budget,” says Hal Newman, a former paramedic who now runs a Facebook page called ‘The Last Ambulance’.

RELATED: Short-staffed paramedics lament exhausting working conditions, ‘brutal’ 16-hour shifts

The Quebec government put together the National Committee for the Transformation of the Pre-Hospital Emergency System which has provided recommendations to better the working conditions of paramedics and their services, none of which have been implemented.

The Union represents 2,500 pre-hospital service workers, including paramedics, and has been in negotiation with the provincial government since September 2021

Gagné says he has been working without a contract since March of this year.

“The pandemic’s ongoing and so we’re completely dependent on these paramedics and emergency medical dispatchers, on the support staff. You know, they are the true frontline. So why marginalize them? Why not? Why not celebrate them? I just don’t get it,” says Newman.

#WATCH: “The system will crumble,” says Jean-François Gagné, part of one of the 40 Quebec ambulance services that are on strike, asking for better pay and better working conditions.

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— CityNews Montreal (@CityNewsMTL) July 5, 2022

When asked for a comment the Ministry of Health and Social Service said, “The MSSS respects the right to strike of paramedics…Discussions for the renewal of collective agreements are continuing. As usual, the MSSS wishes to reach a negotiated settlement to the satisfaction of all parties,” but could not comment any further on the ongoing negotiations.

For Gagné he says those taking part in the strike will stand their ground – if they don’t he doesn’t see how the industry will keep going.

“If nothing’s happened, they don’t go forward with the money to actualize the system. Well, I told you, I think the system will crumble over on itself, like a black hole. So if we don’t do anything, someone will pay. Is it the worker? Is it the patient? I guess the patient will pay the price.”