Many Quebec doctors applying to other provinces for jobs: reports
Medical professionals in Quebec are teaming up to speak out against a law that ties a portion of physician pay to performance indicators.
In an event described by organizers as “unprecedented,” more than 12,000 doctors, medical students, and their supporters packed Montreal’s Bell Centre, demanding the Quebec government suspend Bill 2.
“I’ve never seen a mobilization of this scale, but I’ve never seen a law as bad as the one we’re seeing now,” said Marc-André Amyot, president of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), according to a CBC report.
He warned that the law is already driving hundreds of physicians to seek opportunities in other provinces or retire early, calling the situation “a catastrophe.”
Bill 2 addresses doctors' compensation
Bill 2, pushed through the National Assembly by Premier François Legault’s government using closure, links part of doctors’ compensation to patient volume and other performance targets. It also introduces steep fines for physicians who engage in collective action or pressure tactics to resist the changes. The government argues these measures are necessary to improve access for the 1.5 million Quebecers without a family doctor, but the backlash has been swift and fierce.
“This law was billed as something that would help access, when in fact, this law is breaking our system,” said Karine Igartua, psychiatrist and member of the board of the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), representing Quebec’s specialists, in a CP24 report.
“It’s breaking our doctors, it is demoralising everybody, and it really needs to be suspended.”
Meanwhile, Maxence Pelletier-Lebrun, president of the Fédération médicale étudiante du Québec, also argued that the law’s focus on speed could undermine patient care.
“Now, the ideal that’s promoted by the government is you need to work fast. You need to see patients in X minutes when sometimes, let’s say you’re an ER doctor, you need more time to eliminate stroke, to eliminate heart arrest,” he told CBC.
Exodus of doctors to other provinces
Quebec could be facing an exodus of healthcare professionals after the passing of the legislation. In just a few days, more than 100 Quebec doctors have applied for licences to practise in other provinces.
Over 250 Quebec doctors are applying to be able to work in Ontario, according to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. The surge of applications is happening in the wake of the passing of Bill 2, according to a CBC report.
According to the report, in just over two weeks, the CPSO saw over 13 times more applicants than the 19 total received from June 1 to Oct. 22 this year.
As of Monday morning, 263 Quebec doctors had applied to be licensed in Ontario since Oct. 23, according to the statement. Among them, 35 have been approved for certificates.
Also, 70 Quebec physicians have applied for a licence to practise in New Brunswick, according to a CP24 report.
In a press release posted earlier this month, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) condemned Bill 2, warning that the law “risks exacerbating the sense of discouragement and disengagement” in the profession and “could push many physicians to retire early or leave Quebec for other provinces, further weakening an already strained health care system.”
The law takes effect Jan. 1, 2026.
