Negotiations with doctors: Legault has lost ‘all credibility,’ says PLQ’s Fortin

Premier François Legault has lost “all credibility” in the standoff with doctors, says Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) parliamentary leader André Fortin. 

Having previously focused on penalties, Legault reaffirmed on Tuesday that he was prepared to offer them “financial benefits”.

“Mr. Legault told us: ‘I will go all the way, I will do what no previous government was prepared to do’ (…) and today he tells us: ‘I am presenting financial incentives’,” Fortin noted at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Mr. Legault has lost all the credibility he could have had on this issue. (…) His comments demonstrate the utter ridiculousness of the approach,” he added.

The government’s actions this fall have created “irreparable harm” to thousands of patients and “entire regions like mine,” argued the Liberal MNA from Pontiac, in the Outaouais region.

“His way of speaking to doctors, his approach, it’s a wrong that will take decades to repair,” he argued. “Why did he put tens of thousands of Quebecers through this? It’s incomprehensible.”

The Legault government passed Bill 2 under closure on Oct. 25. This law changes how doctors are paid, imposes performance targets on them, and threatens them with sanctions if they withdraw from the profession. 

Medical federations have since taken steps to challenge it in court, while hundreds of doctors are considering leaving Quebec or closing their clinics.

Before stepping aside to give more space to the President of the Treasury Board, France-Élaine Duranceau, the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, nevertheless announced that he was backing down on three measures provided for in the law.

He has notably pledged never to apply the provisions for monitoring and denouncing doctors, even though these still remain in the law.

It took the Premier’s personal involvement to get the discussions moving again; since Friday, he has said he is open to raising doctors’ pay.

“There are requests being made. We are looking at them. We want more Quebecers to be taken care of,” he explained during a short press scrum at the National Assembly on Wednesday.

When questioned about financial incentives, Dubé refused to repeat the Premier’s remarks.

“The CAQ realizes that the remuneration does not work at all in its bill, so it is forced to find ways around it to compensate for this,” denounced PQ MNA Catherine Gentilcore.

“Now, they’re talking about side bonuses. That’s not what should have been done. They should have ensured that (…) the compensation method was appropriate from the outset. So now, they find themselves trying to ‘patch’ the problem, putting a band-aid on the wound.”

“The Parti Québécois is very clear: we will not give more money to doctors, there will be no increase in doctors’ remuneration,” she added.

Québec solidaire’s parliamentary leader, Ruba Ghazal, echoed this sentiment.

“Money is not going to solve the problem. The doctors, (…) what they want is to have a health system with nurses, with infrastructure to allow them to (…) treat the population,” she said. 

“So, it’s not more money we need, it’s the withdrawal of Bill 2. He has already withdrawn his minister (…) from the negotiations. We all noticed that. He took off his boxing gloves.”

“He should have done this a long time ago instead of finding himself in a difficult situation. It is the patients who are now in a bad way in the current situation,” she argued.

A petition with 66,000 names

In addition, Liberal Marc Tanguay tabled a petition in the House on Wednesday with more than 66,000 signatures calling for the repeal of Bill 2.

“Throughout Quebec, there is chaos in healthcare. Thousands of Quebecers are losing their doctors because clinics and family medicine groups are closing one after another,” he denounced at a press conference.

Alongside him were the initiators of the petition — two medical students — who testified to the discouragement that persists in schools and in healthcare settings.

Édouard Rochefort, a first-year medical student, indicated that even at the beginning of this long academic journey, Law 2 is affecting the morale of the troops.

“Even in the first year, it has a significant impact on our motivation to be in medicine,” said Rochefort. 

“By submitting this petition, we are showing that there are many people who want nothing to do with this law, and that medical students also want nothing to do with this law.” 

Raphaëlle Lauzon has reached the externship stage in her journey, that is to say her fourth year of medical studies. 

“My colleagues and I are questioning our career plans a lot with regard to family medicine, especially because of Bill 2,” she said.

“The atmosphere in hospitals, whether for medical students like myself, resident doctors or even doctors, is quite heavy, it’s tense. 

“Many are trying to redirect their practices outside of Quebec and, at a time when we need more and more family doctors, all we are doing is pushing them away from medical practice in Quebec,” she lamented.

–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