Mediation with Quebec medical specialists to resume

Mediation with medical specialists will resume Monday, Oct. 14, two ministers from the Legault government confirmed on Friday.

On Friday, Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau and Health Minister Christian Dubé announced that the parties “have agreed to continue discussions.”

These had been suspended last Tuesday. On that day, the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) indicated that government negotiators had returned to validate their mandate.

The FMSQ assured that talks were progressing well until “our counterparts confirmed that their current mandate remained to work within the framework of Bill 106.”

“It was therefore agreed to temporarily suspend mediation to allow government representatives to validate the scope of their mandate,” it said.

Bill 106, which aims to link part of doctors’ remuneration to performance indicators, appears to be the Gordian knot of the negotiations.

Last week, Dubé announced that he was putting the legislation on hold to give the mediation process a chance.

“In order not to interfere with the process, we will not be making any further comments,” Duranceau and Dubé said in their joint statement to the media on Friday.

“We confirm that the mediation process has resumed. Our teams will be working from Monday, October 13, until October 18 to outline a possible settlement,” the FMSQ wrote on social media.

However, “teaching students remains suspended until further notice.”

“The FMSQ is re-engaging in this process in good faith, in the interests of Quebec patients and the mission of the healthcare system,” it insisted.

Specialists and general practitioners have been taking pressure tactics for several weeks, including boycotting medical-administrative activities.

The FMSQ has also stopped teaching students, which may delay the graduation of future doctors.

At present, mediation with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), whose framework agreement also expired in 2023, is “on hold.”

There are no plans “at this time” to resume discussions. “We are looking for a way to restart negotiations,” the FMOQ said in a message sent to The Canadian Press on Friday.

Last Tuesday, the FMOQ stated that the mediator had “chosen to put mediation on hold, believing that it would be very difficult to reconcile the positions of the two parties under the current circumstances.”

General practitioners would like the government to consider arbitration if the mediation process fails.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews