Montreal doctors warn that Quebec’s Bill 2, a controversial law linking physicians’ pay to performance targets, could limit care for children.
On Sunday at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal, pediatric specialists said the law threatens access to family doctors for babies and young children and risks delaying preventive care.
Pediatricians, medical specialists, and children wore blue squares on their coats and flew balloons of the same color as a symbol of support for the doctors’ struggle.
Protests also took place in the province’s four university pediatric hospitals. Demonstrations also took place outside the Montreal Children’s Hospital, the Soleil Mother and Child Center in Quebec City, and the Fleurimont Hospital in Sherbrooke.
“The vulnerability criteria in Bill 2 are completely inappropriate” for children and pregnant women, says pediatrician Marie-Joëlle Doré Bergeron.
The law stipulates that children born healthy are automatically classified as “green,” which, according to the law, places them at the bottom of the doctors’ priority list. However, pediatrician Doré Bergeron asserts that children are “by definition a vulnerable population” due to the developmental and growth delays they may experience.
Added to this are mental health issues among adolescents, “such as anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders,” the doctor points out.
Michel Lallier, a transplant surgeon and president of the Council of Physicians, echoed Bergeron’s concerns.
“Those color classifications, if they have all green, of course, when they’re going to come in pediatric hospital, they’re going to be red,” Lallier said. “But sometimes it’s going to be too late.”
Family doctors who do not comply with the priority order established by the government risk financial penalties, says Bergeron.
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Doctors also warn the law is accelerating an exodus. Since the government pushed Bill 2 through in late October, close to 400 Quebec physicians have applied to practise elsewhere raising fears of deeper shortages in the years ahead.
“In 15 to 20 years from now I’ll be super worried that no new development, no new treatment will be provided to the future children of Quebec,” said pediatric immunologist and clinical researcher Hélène Decaluwe. “Because nobody will want to come and work in a province where they dismiss innovation, research, quality of care teaching.”
Lallier said that he worried that those doctors leaving the province may never return. “What’s going to happen? Those guys going to come back? Never.”
Beyond healthcare, Bill 2 also threatens health research, according to Decaluwe.
“When I lead my research team, when I sit on national committees, when I present at conferences, I am not performing [in the eyes of the law],” she said.
During the demonstration, Decaluwe recounted the case of a child with a rare disease who was able to be treated thanks to research conducted by Sainte-Justine Hospital.
The researcher fears that similar cases will not be possible if medical efficiency focuses on the number of procedures performed by doctors, reducing the importance of research.
In a statement to CityNews the office of Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé said:
“Bill 2 does not change the ability of pediatricians, including subspecialists, to provide the necessary care, nor the time they must dedicate to complex follow-ups. For pediatrics, the planned targets relate solely to coverage plans and access times to the CRDS. Currently, 97 per cent of requests are processed on time, and we are aiming for 99 per cent by summer 2026. In this context, pediatricians should retain their full collective compensation.”
— With files from La Presse Canadienne
