Quebec doctor crisis deepens as longtime minister resigns

QUÉBEC — A longtime Quebec minister has resigned from caucus, deepening a crisis engulfing the Quebec government over a recently passed law imposing a new payment system on the province’s doctors.

Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant announced Thursday he would leave the governing party to sit as an Independent member of the provincial legislature. He was accompanied during the press conference by Premier François Legault, a personal friend.

“The last few weeks have been difficult and have led me to refocus my priorities,” he told reporters in Quebec City. “I have always believed that political engagement should be exercised with balance, clarity, and honesty towards oneself and others.”

Carmant, a physician, expressed discomfort earlier this week with the new law, which ties part of doctors’ remuneration to performance targets. The law, known as Bill 2, also prohibits them from using pressure tactics in protest. Physicians have been in uproar since the government rushed the bill through the legislature last week.

On Tuesday, Carmant said his wife and daughter, both doctors, were angry. “It’s not easy at home,” he said.

Then on Wednesday, Carmant’s daughter published an open letter in Quebec newspaper Le Devoir, saying she would have no choice but to move to another province if the government doesn’t allow her to “practise freely.”

Laurence Carmant, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist who is preparing to return to Quebec from Toronto, said the government is blaming individual doctors for a lack of productivity that is actually the result of a “profoundly broken system.”

On Thursday, Legault said he understands that Carmant has to put his family first. “Today is not the day to talk about Bill 2, but I understand that there are some very emotional reactions, and I think that’s normal,” he said.

The new law links 10 per cent of physicians’ pay to performance benchmarks such as appointment and surgery numbers, with the intent of encouraging physicians to take on more patients. It was forced through by the government last week after months of resistance by the province’s doctors.

The bill also includes measures to prohibit boycotts that could affect patient care. According to the legislation, doctors could face fines of up to $20,000 a day if they take “concerted actions” such as deciding in groups of three or more to refuse to teach students or to leave the province.

Doctors immediately began protesting the new law. The province’s federation of medical specialists filed a legal challenge of the bill in Quebec Superior Court this week. The federation’s president, Dr. Vincent Oliva, on Thursday called on Legault to “halt this catastrophe unfolding before our eyes.”

Oliva said the open letter penned by Carmant’s daughter was “powerful,” and he understands Carmant’s decision. “We all saw that he was torn between his professional life and his personal life,” he told reporters in Sherbrooke, Que.

Carmant was first elected when the Coalition Avenir Québec formed government in 2018. He was named social services minister in 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2025.

– By Maura Forrest in Montreal