Remuneration Bill: Doctors considering leaving Quebec

Worries, anguish, anger: doctors are thinking of leaving Quebec or bringing forward their retirement because of Health Minister Christian Dubé’s bill that aims to link part of their compensation to performance indicators. The legislative piece will be adopted under a gag order in the National Assembly in the next few hours.

Dr. Julie Boulanger is shaken and says she is seriously considering continuing her practice outside of Quebec.

“It breaks my heart. I have people that I’ve been following for 26 years. Imagine! I just make people think about it, and it makes me dizzy. These are people I know like the back of my hand,” she said, visibly emotional.

“We are all in a period of reflection because this is a law that is beyond imagination. I didn’t think I’d experience this in my career,” adds the 52-year-old doctor.

For the moment, Dr. Mathieu Larrivée does not plan to work elsewhere or to reorient himself, because he does not want to “let go” of his patients.

The doctor who works in Drummondville, however, does not rule out this possibility in order to “protect” his mental health if he continues to be “insulted” and “dragged through the mud.”

“The first reflex people have is to be cursed and want to swear it all and be angry. But in the end, there is sadness, fear, concern, as much for us, for our profession as for our patients,” added the man who has been practicing for 15 years.

Family physician Alain Naud, 65, says he began his transition to retirement because of the current context.

“I can’t stand this contemptuous attitude of politicians and the current government towards family doctors, who are blamed for all the ills of the health care system,” he says.

Alain Naud adds that otherwise, he would have been ready to continue his practice. “We are in great need of family doctors to be able to offer them to all Quebecers, but there are none. And it is not a special law that will make them appear,” says the teacher.

‘New Brunswick is courting us‘

The Association of General Practitioners of Quebec assures that these cases are not marginal. Its president, Dr. Pascal Renaud, said Friday that a survey was conducted among its members last spring.

“We had a record response rate. The youngest doctors told us: “What we are considering is leaving the province, leaving the front lines, leaving the public system.” The older doctors told us, ‘I’m going to retire early,'” he explained at a press conference in Quebec City.

Pascal Renaud also indicated that other Canadian provinces are already working to recruit Quebec doctors.

“There is New Brunswick that is courting us, that is telling us: ‘Quebec doctors, you are looking for a more interesting practice, New Brunswick exists.’ Ottawa told us: ‘We are looking for 200 family doctors to come to our city.’ There is a concrete risk,” he said.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews