Quebec sees “months” before reaching an agreement with doctors and nurses

Photo: Ivan Balvan Getty Images In emails sent in the days preceding June 1, several patients learned that the offer of front-line appointments could not be maintained in the absence of an agreement.

François Carabin and Isabelle Porter in Quebec

Published yesterday at 1:47 p.m. Updated yesterday at 7:40 p.m.

• Quebec

The Quebec government is still “very far” from reaching an agreement with family doctors and nurses on their salaries and conditions of practice, but Prime Minister François Legault is giving up on a possible special law. “We are not there,” he declared on Friday.

At a press conference on the occasion of a review organized before the summer break, the head of the CAQ government admitted that the discussions started with the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) and the Interprofessional Health Federation (FIQ), which represents nurses, could still stretch over “several months” before 'to succeed.

“It might still be a long time, unfortunately,” he said.

In the preceding minutes, the CAQ elected official had welcomed the agreements concluded this winter with the Common Trade Union Front and the Autonomous Education Federation. “On the other hand, unfortunately, the health issue is still not resolved,” he said.

The FIQ collective agreement and the agreement- framework of the FMOQ have both expired.

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Doctors already “very, very well paid”

Despite the potential effects on appointment making, François Legault maintains a hard line against health network unions. Family doctors, in particular, “are already very, very well paid,” he said.

“We are going to fight, we are ready to fight to the end for patients, for Quebecers. And we will not do what other governments have done before: that is to say, give up after a certain time,” he said.

As summer approaches, Mr. Legault wants “family doctors to still be responsible.” “But when I look at the state of the negotiations, we are very far from an agreement,” he repeated.

The FMOQ and the Legault government had until last Saturday to conclude an agreement allowing appointments to be made for orphan patients through the First Line Access Counter (GAP). On this level, things are progressing, indicated the office of the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, at Duty, Friday.

“The Prime Minister was referring to the framework agreement, rather than the GAP agreement, when “he mentioned that negotiations could take several months,” wrote the minister's press secretary, Audrey Noiseux.

In emails sent in the days preceding the he deadline of June 1, hundreds of thousands of patients had learned that the offer of front-line appointments could not be maintained without an agreement.

“It may be long”

The Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ) also hopes to get there “ quickly” to an agreement on the GAP, indicated an internal source to Devoir after the Prime Minister's review press briefing.

As for the big negotiation (“the framework agreement”), it is realistic to think that it will last for months, as Mr. Legault suggests, since there has not been much work done. , we report.

On the nurses' side too, we expect the negotiation to drag on, indicates the vice-president of the FIQ, Jerome Rousseau. “It might be a long time,” he said in an interview on Friday. “We agree on the objectives – the quality and safety of care – but not on the means. »