FMSQ’s provisional stay will be heard urgently by the Superior Court of Quebec
Posted October 30, 2025 12:05 pm.
Last Updated October 30, 2025 12:10 pm.
In the wake of Bill 2 and the outrage it has sparked among doctors, the Quebec Federation of Medical Specialists (FMSQ) filed a request for a provisional stay on Wednesday, which will be heard urgently next week by the Quebec Superior Court.
With its request for a stay of execution, the FMSQ is not challenging the law as a whole, but only the most restrictive aspects under fundamental rights and freedoms.
The federation wants in particular to challenge the provision in the law which concerns the prohibition of concerted actions which would negatively affect access to services or which would hinder the training path.
During a technical briefing held Thursday in Montreal, lawyer Guillaume Charlebois stated that, as the law is written, a couple of doctors who decide to move to another province and practice medicine there are liable to a fine of $20,000.
In one week since the adoption under gag order of Bill 2, there have been 70 registrations of Quebec doctors to work in Ontario and 30 in New Brunswick.
At a press conference in Sherbrooke, the president of the FMSQ, Dr. Vincent Oliva, said he was “extremely concerned” about the exodus of doctors.
“I once again call on the Premier to act responsibly and stop this catastrophe unfolding before our eyes,” said Dr. Oliva.
“The scope of the prohibitions in Law 2 is such that it leads to a code of silence and discourages doctors in particular from discussing the aforementioned fundamental life choices, for legitimate fear of seeing these discussions considered as ‘consultation’,” reads the request for provisional stay.
“It also discourages the FMSQ or any other participant in civil society from organizing or encouraging demonstrations in which doctors would participate to protest, in the exercise of their freedoms of thought, belief, opinion, conscience and expression, against Bill 2,” the judicial document also states.
—The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
