A recently adopted law in Quebec, Bill 2, directly ties doctors’ remuneration to how well they meet their performance targets. This deployment has raised enormous alarm and awakened resistance to a regional crackdown. Bill 2 will go into effect in the new year. It has already led hundreds of healthcare workers to pursue licenses in Ontario, raising concerns about the long-term availability of healthcare in Quebec.
The reintroduction of the bill has already faced sharp rebuke from medical experts and area residents, most notably in Wakefield, where protests have spilled into the streets. Many fear that the law will exacerbate existing issues within the healthcare system, which is already struggling with a shortage of family doctors.
Concerns for Healthcare Workers
Natasha Grimard is a second year medical resident, presently training in Ottawa. Originally from Chelsea, Quebec, she is one of the people personally affected by Bill 2. She stated her worries that the law makes it much more difficult for her to return to practice in Quebec.
“This bill is making it hard for me to justify coming back, not so much from a remuneration perspective, but from a support perspective.” – Natasha Grimard
Grimard summed up her predicament succinctly. In her heart, she knows the problem is inadequate resources and regulations to protect her community.
“It feels like being torn apart, between this very deep sense of needing to give back to the community that helped me grow up, and not having the tools here to do that properly,” – Natasha Grimard
With our border with Ontario, many of our healthcare workers are looking at opportunities across the river. Mayor Marc Carrière of Les Collines-de-l’Outaouais expressed his concern about this phenomenon.
“Here we’re about 15 minutes, 20 minutes from Ottawa. So it’s easy for any doctors, any nurses to go across the river and go work in Ottawa.” – Marc Carrière
Protests Erupt in Wakefield
The protests in Wakefield have focused international media attention on the anger brewing among medical professionals and residents throughout the country. Organizer Sharyn Morris made clear the urgency of the crisis that the community is experiencing resulting from the lack of access to family doctors.
“A lot of our doctors have already left and it’s a real crisis right now.” – Sharyn Morris
Morris was similarly concerned about how Bill 2 would make healthcare less accessible.
“They don’t need motivation. They need resources. They need numbers. They need help.” – Gary Satenstein
Several hundred protesters marched to the Black Sheep Inn after listening to speeches at the Centre Wakefield La Pêche community center. Long-time family physician Gary Satenstein protested the bill, looking back on his four decades in practice that ended just as health care started to crumble.
“Coercive policies generally are not good because we already have a very motivated health-care force.” – Gary Satenstein
Legal Challenges and Future Implications
For their part, the Quebec Federation of Family Doctors is standing strong against Bill 2. They’ve filed an odd legal challenge to head it off before it can be implemented. The overarching purpose of the legislation is to encourage doctors to achieve performance targets. This strategy focuses on reducing patient wait times by several orders of magnitude. Critics say, though, that it would simply deepen the cuts and kick a seemingly already broken healthcare system while it’s down.
