Thousands fill Bell Centre demanding Quebec suspend law reforming doctors' pay

Thousands of doctors, medical students and supporters filled the Bell Centre in downtown Montreal on Sunday to demand the Quebec government suspend Bill 2.

The controversial legislation, that ties a part of doctors' remuneration to performance indicators, was forced through the National Assembly late last month after Premier François Legault's government invoked closure.

Under the new law, doctors who take part in concerted actions or pressure tactics to boycott the changes risk steep fines.

Backlash stemming from the new law was immediate, with the federations representing Quebec's general practitioners, medical specialists, and medical students each launching legal challenges.

According to rally organizers, which include the three federations listed above, as well as the federation representing medical residents, approximately 12,500 tickets were handed out for Sunday's event.

Dr. Marc-André Amyot, president of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), said he's been practicing medicine for 33 years.

"I've never seen a mobilization of this scale," he said, referring to the thousands in attendance, "but I've never seen a law as bad as the one we're seeing now."

The government has said the intent behind performance targets is to encourage physicians to see more patients, with Legault saying it will benefit the 1.5 million Quebecers who don't have a family doctor.

Amyot, however, said linking compensation to volume indicators is something that the Quebec College of Physicians—whose responsibility it is to protect the public—has deemed dangerous and unacceptable.

Amyot said patients are already paying the price with hundreds of physicians having either started the process to practice medicine in other provinces, or opting for an early retirement.

"It's a catastrophe," he said.

Maxence Pelletier-Lebrun, president of the Fédération médicale étudiante du Québec, agrees the new law will create a system in which patient care is affected.

“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 said.