Quebec reaches deal on raises for GPs and medical specialists
CBC News | Posted: September 24, 2014 1:15 PM | Last Updated: September 24, 2014
Agreement will see pay increases spread over 8 years
After long and sometimes testy negotiations, the Quebec government reached a deal with both its general practitioners and medical specialists today.
Federations representing the two groups of doctors have agreed in principle to accept pay raises spread out over eight years.
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The federations representing the two groups had been in intense negotiations with Health Minister Gaétan Barrette.
The conflict with the specialists hit a low point last week, when Barrette threatened to introduce a special law that would have imposed a contract on them.
The specialists' federation accused Barrette of negotiating in bad faith.
The source of the tension came from an agreement signed in 2007 between the province’s doctors and the health minister of the time, Philippe Couillard, which promised a salary increase through 2015-2016.
Barrette said negotiating a new deal on raises with the two federations was necessary if the government was to meet its promise of balancing the province's books by 2015-2016.
"The two federations have made substantial concessions for the periods of 2014-2015 and 2015-2016," Barrette said Wednesday.
"At the end of the day, the public interest has to take precedence, and that's what happened," he said.
Premier commends doctors
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said the health professionals should be commended for agreeing to put Quebec's interests ahead of their own.
"It's important to highlight this gesture by the medical community, which shows that it understands the financial situation that Quebec is in and wants to help address it," he said.
Specialists will meet to vote on the agreement in principle on Thursday. Family doctors will vote Oct. 4.