(Quebec) The recent increase in the remuneration of Ontario doctors has not caused the Legault government to waver in its negotiations with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ).
The day after the FMOQ came out in favour of catching up, the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, did not show any openness on Wednesday to increasing the current envelope of 3 billion.
Ontario family doctors have just won a 10% pay increase through arbitration for the first year of their contracts.
The minister had already indicated in August that she wanted to ensure the “relevance of the allocation of sums” and of “each of the medical acts” before considering an increase in remuneration.
On Tuesday, the FMOQ remained vague about its demands regarding remuneration, but its president, Marc-André Amyot, suggested that the increase recently obtained by their Ontario counterparts should be included in the calculation of the remuneration gap between general practitioners in Quebec and Ontario.
In a press scrum at the exit of the Council of Ministers meeting, Mr.me LeBel was questioned both about her flexibility regarding the improvement of compensation and about taking into account data from Ontario.
She recalled that she wanted first to “improve access to primary care” and “review the role of the doctor”, then review “the clinical organization” and the “remuneration model”.
And as for aligning or following the upward curve of fees in Ontario, the President of the Treasury Board remained firmly on her line: above all, “look within the current envelope for possible sources of optimization.”
On Tuesday, the president of the FMOQ warned the government by leaving a threat hanging: a freeze on the envelope at 3 billion could result in a reduction in services.
“If the government says: we no longer pay for this service (in the list of acts covered by the RAMQ), perhaps 3 billion will be enough,” he said.
In addition, the FMOQ has already drawn its line: at $330,313 per year on average, “it’s clear” that doctors here earn less than in Ontario, indicated Mr. Amyot.
The FMOQ also contested certain data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) brandished by Quebec, on the lack of productivity of general practitioners.
“We are not here to wage a war of numbers, we are here to find solutions for patients,” retorted Health Minister Christian Dubé on Wednesday morning.
The framework agreement between the FMOQ and Quebec expired on March 31, 2023.