Specialist doctors reach agreement in principle with province
Quebec has reached an agreement with its specialist doctors after their federation voted 86 per cent in favour of an agreement in principle, La Presse reported.
The new compensation package would see a nine per cent increase over five years, with another two per cent tied to performance metrics.
“For the first time, performance targets are being introduced into the compensation of specialist physicians, particularly for access to specialist appointments and surgeries,” Premier Christine Fréchette announced on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Some of the performance targets include adding 80,000 specialist appointments annually and reducing the number of patients waiting over a year for surgery from 4,000 to 1,000 in two years. The province also committed funding to increase hospitals’ operating capacity.
The federation representing specialist doctors had originally been asking for a 17 per cent increase over five years, but revised their request down to 14.5 per cent.
New premier meets with U.S. trade rep
Newly elected premier Christine Fréchette, after announcing her new cabinet last week, was in Washington this week, and met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamison Greer Monday, Radio-Canada reports. The meeting was not on Fréchette’s public schedule and lasted around an hour. Greer is a key figure in the Trump administration and is leading the review of the free trade agreement between Canada and the U.S.
Fréchette’s staff emphasized to Radio-Canada that they were not there to conduct negotiations, but to promote Quebec’s interests.
She called for a targeted review of the CUSMA and for the removal of sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum, softwood lumber and copper, which have hit Quebec’s industry hard.
The Americans have also been seeking greater access to Canada’s dairy market.
NDP’s only Quebec MP moves to provincial politics
Alexandre Boulerice, the federal NDP’s only representative in Quebec, announced on Monday that he was stepping down from his position to pursue a seat for the provincial party Québec Solidaire. According to CBC News, Boulerice plans to run in the Montreal riding of former QS co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, who said he plans to leave politics at the end of this mandate. The provincial riding overlaps with his current federal jurisdiction.
“I hope there will be some [progressives] or left-wing people in the Parliament of Canada, and I will be happy when Quebec will be sovereign to work with them for a better North America,” Boulerice said at a press conference Monday with QS’ current co-spokespersons Ruba Ghazal and Sol Zanetti.
Boulerice was elected to the House of Commons representing Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie during the “Orange wave” of 2011, and has held the seat ever since. He said he will sit as an independent and resign the day before the provincial race starts.
His departure will reduce the federal NDP caucus to five seats out of 343.
