{"id":627832,"date":"2026-04-25T14:05:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627832\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T14:05:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T14:05:12","slug":"change-in-health-minister-led-to-deal-quebecs-medical-specialists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627832\/","title":{"rendered":"Change in health minister led to deal: Quebec’s medical specialists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quebec\u2019s medical specialists say a change in health minister led to a breakthrough in negotiations with the provincial government.<\/p>\n

On Thursday evening, the Federation of Medical Specialists of Quebec (FMSQ) voted more than 80 per cent in favour of a new contract with the government after more than a year of stagnant talks. Former health minister Christian Dub\u00e9 tabled a series of controversial health care bills linking doctor pay to performance, which was met with outcry from the medical community and ultimately led to Dub\u00e9\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Dub\u00e9, we weren\u2019t going anywhere,\u201d said Dr. Ars\u00e8ne Basmadjian, a member of the FMSQ\u2019s board of directors. \u201cWe were at the opposite ends of the spectrum,\u201d saying the previous leadership put up several road blocks.<\/p>\n

He said talks started moving once Sonia B\u00e9langer took over as health minister.<\/p>\n

\u201cThings started to definitely improve, talks wise, when we had different people in front of us. Madame B\u00e9langer and (Chair of the Conseil du tr\u00e9sor France-\u00c9laine) Duranceau have been very positive. It\u2019s been a turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last spring, Basmadjian felt that talks were going well, and believed an agreement was close at that time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, basically we were blindsided by Bill 106, which just came out of nowhere, really, and was a slap in our face. There was no way we were going to accept that,\u201d he said, adding things only got worse with Bill 2, which felt like \u201ca police state for physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

New agreement terms<\/p>\n

The new agreement allows for compensation increases based on performance targets, rather than a pay cut, according to a press release from the Cabinet de la ministre responsable de l\u2019Administration gouvernementale et de l\u2019Efficacit\u00e9 de l\u2019\u00c9tat.<\/p>\n

Targets include increasing appointment slots for specialist consultations, reducing the surgery wait list from 4,000 to under 1,000 within two years, and reducing the number of patients waiting for priority cancer surgery from 325 to less than 50.<\/p>\n

Health care spending is set to increase by a minimum of 9 per cent by March 31, 2028, and possibly by up to 11 per cent, conditional on achieving the various performance targets.<\/p>\n

One per cent is dedicated to improving doctor retention in rural areas, 3 per cent is earmarked for clinic overhead, including rent, staff and clinic fees, and 5 per cent is to close the pay gap between specialties, particularly specialties that are dominated by women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certain specialties that have higher incomes on average than others. And it\u2019s obviously been a point of discontent within the federation,\u201d Basmadjian explained.<\/p>\n

Reaching an agreement after all this time was a victory for both doctors and the government, but Basmadjian points out that it came with concessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping at the beginning to get the same thing as other workers in the health field, which was 17 per cent (increases),\u201d he said. Ontario and New Brunswick have received \u201cmuch greater\u201d pay increases than Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy accepting this deal, that means we accept to be lower-paid physicians than our neighbours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Profile<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tLeora Schertzer is a reporter at the Montreal Gazette who thrives on the chase. Whether it\u2019s producing a documentary about sewage or investigating a Nazi gold scandal, it\u2019s the novelty and adrenaline that keep her in this challenging industry. Send her tips at lschertzer@postmedia.com.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Quebec\u2019s medical specialists say a change in health minister led to a breakthrough in negotiations with the provincial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-627832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}