OttawaFamily physicians in the Outaouais are hopeful an agreement in principle between Quebec’s family doctors and the province will keep them in the region, but some say it won’t do enough to counter the impact of delayed legislative reforms. Agreement in principle rolls back contentious legislative reforms included in Bill 2Jodie Applewaithe · CBC News · Posted: Dec 13, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 31 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 5 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Quebec’s Health Minister Christian Dubé tabled legislation Friday delaying the implementation of Bill 2 to allow for amendments included in the government’s agreement in principle with family doctors. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)Family physicians in the Outaouais are hopeful an agreement in principle between Quebec’s family doctors and the province will keep them in the region, but some say it won’t do enough to counter the impact of delayed legislative reforms.Bill 2, which would have come into effect Jan. 1, ties doctors’ pay to performance targets and has been a point of contention since it was tabled. In response, hundreds of family doctors applied for licences to practise in Ontario. Over 260 Quebec doctors apply for Ontario licences in weeks following Bill 2The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) and the Quebec government reached the deal Thursday, pushing back the implementation of the legislation to allow for several amendments. Quebec scraps penalties for family doctors, obligations tied to patient load in tentative dealFamily physicians reach tentative deal with Quebec over Bill 2Details of the deal were presented to members during webinars Friday morning and obtained by CBC News.Dr. Emmanuelle Britton, who practices medicine in the Outaouais, said there’s relief among physicians after months of concern over Bill 2. (Submitted by Dr. Emmanuelle Britton)”I think what we heard this morning is finally some relief and hope in the fact that … a path can be reopened before us,” said Dr. Emmanuelle Britton, a family physician in the Outaouais who attended one of the meetings.”We’ll be able to rebuild and we’ll have to restore trust, but I think that we’re able to do it if we keep going in the direction … that we heard this morning.”Tentative deal rolls back legislative reformsThe agreement in principle is conditional upon several amendments to Bill 2 that will be implemented if it’s approved by doctors.It would scrap penalties for doctors who miss performance targets and fail to adhere to the reforms, and would remove an obligation for family doctor groups to take on the province’s estimated 1.2 million orphaned patients by January 2027.The deal would also include a new compensation model (split between 50 per cent as a fixed amount per patient, 30 per cent fee-for-service and 20 per cent hourly rate), and provide a 14.5 per cent increase to the overall compensation envelope for family doctors by 2028.The Coalition Avenir Québec passed legislation Friday delaying the implementation of the bill until Feb. 28. It will be amended with the changes outlined in the agreement if approved by FMOQ members, who have until Dec. 19 to vote on the deal.Dr. Mélanie Lacasse, who’s spent her entire career working in Gatineau, said her decision is clear.”I think it’s a good deal for us, for our government, but mainly for the patients,” she said.Dr. Mélanie Lacasse had considered moving her practice to Ontario, but said if the deal between the FMOQ and Quebec government if approved she’ll stay in Gatineau. (Anne-Charlotte Carignan/Radio-Canada)When Bill 2 was tabled, she considered moving her practice to Ontario, but now says if the deal moves forward she’ll stay put — and she’s hoping it’ll convince other family physicians to do the same.”I’ve been here for the past 18 years and I’m attached to my patients,” Lacasse said. “I’m attached to my family at work and I didn’t want to leave.”Britton said she also considered leaving the province and even applied for a licence to practise in Ontario, where she began her career. If the agreement in principle is approved, she now says she’ll remain in Quebec.In a statement, the FMOQ applauded “Premier Legault’s decision to personally engage in this matter in order to intervene quickly, curb the disengagement and departure of Quebec family physicians, and increase access to family medicine for Quebecers.”The commitment and motivation of family physicians remain essential for the future of primary care and for the health of the Quebec population, and the FMOQ believes that this agreement in principle is a concrete step in that direction,” the federation said.‘The damage has been done,’ advocate saysJean Pigeon, the spokesperson for the health-care advocacy group SOS Outaouais, wonders if it’s too late to reverse the harm caused by recent departures of family physicians since Bill 2 passed.”We lost 41 family doctors, thousands of patients lost their family doctors,” he said, referring to numbers from the Département territorial de médecine familiale de l’Outaouais, the group representing family doctors in the region.Western Quebec physicians eye up Ottawa as province forces new deal”The damage has been done,” he said. “We hope this can be rectified, but we also hope that the government will look at our region and provide us with the tools we need.”Britton acknowledged that “the last few months have been quite devastating.””It’s been a region … suffering for quite some time,” she said.Negotiations between the Quebec government and the province’s medical specialists, who are also affected by Bill 2, are ongoing.ABOUT THE AUTHORJodie Applewaithe is an associate producer with CBC Ottawa. You can reach her at jodie.applewaithe@cbc.caWith files from CBC’s Ottawa Morning and Radio-Canada’s Claudine Richard
Outaouais physicians hopeful after province reaches tentative deal with family doctors
