Quebec Halts Bill 2, Strikes Landmark Deal with Family Doctors

OTTAWA, ON – December 19, 2025 – The Quebec government has reached a tentative agreement with the province's federation of general practitioners, pausing the implementation of the deeply controversial Bill 2 in a move heralded as a victory for collaboration over legislative force. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) immediately welcomed the deal, which substitutes punitive measures with voluntary incentives to improve patient access to care.

The agreement between the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) and the provincial government brings an end to a period of intense conflict that saw physicians threaten to leave the province and launch legal challenges against what they viewed as coercive legislation. The deal, approved by an overwhelming 97% of family doctors, signals a significant shift in the government's approach to healthcare reform.

"This outcome shows that our shared goals of improving access to care and delivering high-quality patient services are best achieved by developing genuine partnerships with the medical community rather than imposing legislation," said Dr. Margot Burnell, President of the CMA, in a statement. The association praised the deal as a model for building a stronger health system.

From Coercion to Collaboration

At the heart of the dispute was Bill 2, legislation passed under a controversial gag order in October 2025. It was designed to force a solution to the province's long-standing problem of over a million residents lacking a family doctor. The bill sought to make physicians "collectively responsible" for patient access, linking up to 25% of their pay to government-set performance targets and patient volume.

Its provisions were widely condemned by the medical community. The bill included a plan to assign a "vulnerability code" to every patient using administrative data, a measure doctors feared would depersonalize care. It also threatened physicians with fines of up to $20,000 per day for engaging in pressure tactics, a move seen as an attempt to muzzle professional dissent. The backlash was swift and severe, with over 260 Quebec doctors reportedly applying for licenses in Ontario in the weeks after the bill's passage, fueling fears of a mass exodus that would worsen the healthcare crisis.

Physicians argued that the bill unfairly blamed them for systemic issues while prioritizing the quantity of appointments over the quality of care, ultimately eroding their professional autonomy and increasing an already heavy administrative burden.

Inside the Landmark Agreement

The new agreement represents a near-total reversal of Bill 2's philosophy. Instead of mandating that family doctor groups take on all 1.2 million orphaned patients, the deal sets a voluntary target: connect an additional 500,000 patients with a family doctor by June 2026. Crucially, the agreement offers financial incentives for reaching this goal but includes no penalties for falling short.

The most contentious elements of Bill 2 have been eliminated. The vulnerability coding system is gone, as are all financial penalties and threats of pay reductions. The deal also introduces what Quebec's premier described as the largest revamp of the physician pay model in 50 years. Under the new structure, half of a family doctor's remuneration will be based on the number of patients on their roster, directly incentivizing them to take on more patients.

Further sweetening the deal is new funding to improve telemedicine services and stabilize the finances of group family medicine clinics (GMFs), which form the backbone of primary care in the province. However, the pivot away from reformist legislation was not without political cost. The province's Health Minister, Christian Dubé, resigned following the agreement, reportedly expressing disappointment that his push for systemic change had been abandoned in favor of what he considered the "status quo."

What This Means for Patients and Physicians

For the hundreds of thousands of Quebecers without a primary care provider, the agreement offers a concrete plan and a tangible timeline for getting one. The FMOQ has framed the deal as being "good for patients," allowing doctors to focus on care without the threat of punishment. The increased funding for telemedicine is also expected to improve access, particularly for those in remote communities.

However, the shift may alter how patients interact with their primary care team. With doctors managing larger patient loads, some care may be delegated. Patients might see their doctor less frequently for routine matters, with more checkups being handled by nurses and other qualified medical staff, reflecting a move toward a more team-based model of care.

For physicians, the agreement provides immense relief. It removes the pressure of arbitrary targets and punitive measures, restoring a sense of professional autonomy and respect that they felt was lost under Bill 2. The FMOQ hopes this new, more supportive environment will stem the tide of early retirements and departures from the province, stabilizing the physician workforce for the long term.

"By engaging in dialogue, fostering collaboration and respecting clinical expertise and on-the-ground realities, we can build a stronger health system with practical, sustainable solutions," noted Dr. Jean-Joseph Condé, a CMA board member and family physician in Val-d'Or, Quebec.

A National Ripple Effect?

The CMA is positioning the Quebec agreement as a potential blueprint for the rest of Canada. The organization has long advocated for collaborative solutions to the nation's healthcare challenges and sees this outcome as a powerful case study. The hope is that other provincial governments will take note and choose partnership over confrontation when tackling complex issues like physician shortages and access to care.

The immediate focus in Quebec now shifts to the province's medical specialists. The Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) was also a staunch opponent of Bill 2 and had launched its own legal challenge. The CMA's statement expressed hope that the government would soon reach a similar tentative agreement with the FMSQ to improve access to secondary and tertiary care.

A critical component of the FMOQ's deal is a "parity clause," which ensures its members' overall budget increase will align with whatever is eventually negotiated with the specialists. This clause cleverly builds a bridge to the next set of negotiations, creating a framework for equity between general practitioners and specialists. As these talks get underway, the success of the FMOQ agreement has set a powerful precedent, demonstrating that dialogue can achieve what legislative force could not.