At least a thousand protesters in Quebec City gather to denounce Bill 2

At least a thousand people gathered in front of the National Assembly on Saturday to protest Bill 2, which changes how doctors are paid.

This special bill was introduced on Oct. 24 and passed under closure a few hours later. It imposes performance targets on doctors and threatens them with penalties if they fail to meet them.

Bill 2 also provides for the establishment of a system to monitor doctors.

According to Gabrielle Voisine, an emergency room physician who took the stage during the demonstration, Bill 2 is “the final nail in the coffin of the healthcare system.”

“A majority government with historically low popular support that rammed through a complex law with profound societal impacts—I can only call that authoritarian drift,” she said to applause.

Family physician Kim Lévesque spoke in particular about the sacred fire of doctors that was in danger of being extinguished.

“With everything that’s going on, the constant denigration of doctors, the mistrust, the political persecution, Bill 106, Bill 2, the ever-increasing pressure, I realize that I no longer have the same strength,” said the young mother of two.

In an interview, neurologist Renée-Myriam Boucher said she had never seen such discontent in her field. She also praised the daughter of former minister Lionel Carmant, Laurence Carmant, a medical specialist, for clearly explaining the reality on the ground.

Laurence denounced the effects of Bill 2 in an open letter, saying she was considering leaving Quebec.

In the hours following the publication of this letter, Carmant, the only doctor in the Legault government, resigned from his position as Minister of Social Services.

On Friday, the College of Physicians urged the government to suspend the application of Bill 2 and to remove the performance targets and penalties. Its proposal was immediately rejected.

“The College of Physicians protects patients; it is not there for doctors. And now it is coming out and saying, ‘This is not good for patients.’ That is very significant, and for the government to turn a deaf ear (…) is beyond comprehension,” lamented Boucher.

Another large gathering of doctors is planned for Nov. 9 at the Bell Centre.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews