Dozens of pediatricians and family doctors held coordinated protests across Quebec on Sunday, November 16, 2025, voicing strong opposition to the provincial government's controversial health-care reform, known as Bill 2. The demonstration outside the Montreal Children's Hospital highlighted fears of a collapsing medical system and a potential mass departure of skilled physicians from the province.
Doctors Issue Stark Warning Over Patient Care
The protesting physicians issued a dire prediction: Bill 2 could trigger a mass exodus of qualified pediatricians, leaving thousands of children without a family doctor. This, they argue, would worsen overcrowding in already strained emergency rooms and make it nearly impossible for children to receive proper, timely health care.
Pediatrician Hema Patel, who has more than 30 years of experience at the Montreal Children's Hospital, stated she has already received job offers from British Columbia and Alberta since the bill was passed. "I don't want to leave them in the lurch," she said about her patients with complex medical needs, but she is strongly considering leaving Quebec if the reform remains in place. She believes the law will "destroy our system."
How Bill 2 Threatens Preventive Care
The Legault government's reform classifies patients by vulnerability level, with healthy children placed in the lowest category. Doctors are then expected to meet quotas for treating vulnerable patients.
This system, according to the protesting doctors, fundamentally undermines preventive care. "When you take away the fundamental preventive care, then everybody suffers," Dr. Patel explained. "Children with autism will go undiagnosed. Children who are limping and need that limp evaluated will not have it evaluated in time."
Dr. Helena Evangeliou, another pediatrician at the protest, emphasized that children are inherently at risk for many conditions simply by virtue of being young. She also criticized proposed 15-minute appointment limits, stating that in pediatrics, it can take at least 10 minutes just to develop a rapport with the child and family. Rushed appointments, she warned, lead to overuse of the health-care system through unnecessary return visits or trips to the ER.
The Looming Mass Exodus of Physicians
The doctors' warnings are not just theoretical. In the three weeks since Bill 2 was passed, nearly 400 doctors have applied to work elsewhere in Canada. This threatens to exacerbate Quebec's existing doctor shortage, a problem recently highlighted by the temporary closure of the maternity ward at St-Eustache Hospital due to a lack of staff.
A significant factor driving this exodus is a new salary formula that could result in some physicians losing up to 40 per cent of their income. This lower pay could also force family medicine clinics to shut down if they can no longer afford operational costs like rent and equipment.
Family doctor Anna Fichman, who fled Russia 25 years ago, was at the protest with a poster that read "Au revoir Québec" on one side and "Welcome to Ontario" on the other. She stated that her clinic in Verdun, which serves 1,400 patients, will likely close on May 1 if the reform stays. "I left Russia to have a choice, and here I am in the same situation, 25 years later," she said. "Been there, done that. Never again."
As the protest concluded, Dr. Patel challenged the government's concept of "collective responsibility," suggesting that if politicians failed to balance the budget or keep election promises, they should similarly face a 30 or 40 per cent pay cut. The standoff between Quebec's medical community and its government appears to be reaching a critical point, with the health of the province's children hanging in the balance.
