Quebec doctors are still angry, FMSQ confirms they’ll file lawsuit on Wednesday

The Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) will file a request for a stay in Superior Court on Wednesday.

Its president, Dr. Vincent Oliva, explained at a press conference in Quebec City on Tuesday that the move aimed to suspend articles of Bill 2 that violate “individual freedoms.” 

This is because, in addition to imposing a new method of remuneration on doctors, Bill 2 – which was adopted under gag order during the night of Friday to Saturday – prohibits them from carrying out “concerted actions” which could harm access to care. 

For example, three doctors who decide together to leave the network or stop teaching could be severely punished: up to $20,000 in fines per day, disciplinary measures, etc.

The law provides for the establishment of a system of monitoring doctors.

“When you analyze it properly, you realize that it violates basic individual freedoms. Doctors don’t have the right to slow down, they can’t disengage,” observed Dr. Oliva. 

“Even if Minister Dubé says, ‘Yes, but that’s not the intention,’ that’s what it says: ‘You can’t slow down,'” he insisted.

Demonstration in Quebec

For three days, the doctors have been furious. 

After an initial demonstration on Sunday in Montreal, around fifteen doctors were in front of the National Assembly on Tuesday morning with black tape over their mouths to protest against Bill 2.

The mere act of encouraging doctors to commit an offence is now punishable under the law, warned nephrologist Jean-François Cailhier.

“Bill 2 takes the concept of gag orders to another level,” he said. “It’s the first time that so many individual freedoms have been violated in this way. (…) This is the last straw.”

According to Dr. Cailhier, the atmosphere within the medical profession is “gloomy.” “Many don’t even want to work anymore,” he said.

Dr. Rémi Gagnon, an allergist-immunologist from Quebec, says he has never seen so many doctors cry. “It’s a real downer right now. (…) We’re always getting beaten up. We’re always getting crushed,” he lamented.

Yet, doctors are among the hardest-working professionals, argued Dr. Anne Desjardins, a microbiologist and infectious disease specialist at the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec.

“Everyone is already working at full capacity. We’re whipping a horse to the ground, that’s what we’re doing. (…) All of this is done to gain political capital, which is indecent,” she declared.

The penalties provided for in the law “knock her to the ground.” “My husband was saying to me at the end of the week, ‘Be careful what you write on Facebook.’ I was like, ‘What? Where are we that we’re afraid of what we write on social media?'”

“What I said to my husband was, ‘Let them come and get me. Let them come and put me in jail because I have an opinion on something that concerns my profession.'”

Dr. Desjardins, who is also the director of a residency program, says she is worried about the next generation, who are likely to be “demotivated,” she says. Moreover, Ontario, New Brunswick, and British Columbia are eyeing Quebec doctors. 

Faced with the growing discontent within the network, Santé Québec decided on Tuesday to issue an appeal for calm, asking all of its employees to “maintain a calm atmosphere.”

CAQ ministers uneasy

Inside the walls of the National Assembly, Social Services Minister and pediatric neurologist Lionel Carmant expressed his unease with Bill 2. The minister said that his wife and daughter, both doctors, were “angry.”

“It’s definitely not easy at home,” he told parliamentary correspondents. “It certainly affects me to see people I love angry.” According to him, “there are things that are (…) unclear” in the law.

Later, in a press scrum, Health Minister Christian Dubé flatly refused to comment on his colleague’s remarks, saying only that he wanted to “continue to protect patients.”

“I saw Dr. Oliva’s press briefing this morning. I understand their reaction. I also understand that these are big changes for them. It’s their right to undergo the procedure they’re undertaking,” he said.

Asked in turn about the sanctions provided for in Law 2, the Minister of Labour, Jean Boulet, declared: “I am not commenting on that.”

Positions of the PQ and the PLQ

On Tuesday, the Parti Québécois (PQ) and the Quebec Liberal Party, which are leading in voting intentions, specified that they would repeal the law to remove the coercive component.

Bill 2 also links 10 per cent of doctors’ remuneration to performance objectives. 

Once in power, the PQ would maintain this section with some modifications, while Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez committed last Saturday to “co-writing” the law with medical federations.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews