Christian Dubé stepping down as Quebec Health Minister, leaving the CAQ

Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé has resigned following his push for a controversial Bill that changed the way doctors in the province are paid.

Christian Dubé has resigned from his position as Quebec’s Minister of Health and will sit as an independent MNA, delivering a major blow to Premier François Legault’s Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) party.

He made the announcement Thursday afternoon in a resignation letter he shared on social media.

“Under the current circumstances, this is a difficult decision that I am making for the good of patients, physicians, and the healthcare network,” he wrote in the letter.

His lengthy post cited the tumultuous negotiations with the doctors’ federations in recent weeks as part of the context in reaching his decision to step down, acknowledging that “we made mistakes” and that the government “did not always clearly communicate the objectives of Bill 2 to patients or physicians.”

The controversial doctor remuneration law, known as Bill 2, was adopted under closure in October -- a process triggered by the CAQ to ensure the bill was passed swiftly with limited debate. It tied a portion of doctors’ salaries to meeting certain performance targets, including seeing more patients, and included steep fines for medical professionals who challenged the new policy. It was denounced by medical professionals both inside and outside Quebec. It has also sparked an exodus of doctors from the province seeking work in other provinces.

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Last week, the government announced it had reached an agreement in principle with the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) to delay and amend the contentious legislation.

Dubé is the second CAQ cabinet minister to resign because of Bill 2. In late October, Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant said he was leaving the CAQ to sit as an independent in protest of the controversial law.

• Lionel Carmant leaves CAQ, will sit as independent

Dubé said that, after careful consideration, he decided that “I am no longer the right person to continue these discussions and lead the rewriting of Bill 2.”

Dubé had ‘one of the most demanding positions,’ Legault says

Premier Legault said he accepted Dubé’s resignation at 2 p.m. Thursday.

“I thank him for his years of public service in one of the most demanding positions in Quebec. Our government remains fully committed to improving access to health care for the population. This has always guided our actions, and we will continue our work in this direction,” Legault said on X.

‘Climate of confrontation’ in negotiations

FMOQ members are currently holding a vote to ratify the tentative agreement, but Dubé said “it essentially maintains the status quo on governance issues” between the government, the federation, and medical directors in the health-care system.

“The tone adopted at the beginning of the discussions did not always promote constructive dialogue with physicians. For several months, the medical federations, for their part, focused primarily on defending their own interests rather than addressing all the issues affecting patients and physicians. Together, these dynamics contributed to a climate of confrontation that unfortunately intensified over the months,” he wrote in the resignation letter.

“Ultimately, incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information circulated and fueled legitimate concerns among physicians, in GMFs, and among the general public. This weakened the climate within the network,” he added.

“I fully accept my share of responsibility for this situation.”

Under the tentative agreement, the government would backtrack on some of Dubé’s reforms, including performance-related penalties and a colour-coded system to assess patients’ vulnerability.

The province would also abandon its goal of assigning all Quebecers to a health-care provider by 2027, instead offering incentives for doctors to enroll 500,000 new patients by June 2026.

The deal would maintain changes to the method of remuneration for physicians, but it would remove the threat of heavy fines for doctors who take “concerted actions” to oppose the bill. It also includes an additional $435 million in the compensation package for family doctors.

Dubé was first elected as an MNA in 2012 and went on to become a key figure in the CAQ government when he took on the role of health minister in 2020. He also led many press briefings on Quebec’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Doctors, politicians react

The FMOQ said it would not comment on the resignation given that members are still voting.

Meanwhile, the government has yet to reach a deal with the Quebec federation of medical specialists, the FMSQ.

“Beyond politics, there are human beings. We wish Christian Dubé the best of luck for the future,” the federation said on X.

Dr. Michael Kalin, a Montreal-based doctor who owns the Santé Kildare clinic and has been an outspoke critic of Bill 2, said Dubé’s resignation is “good news for all Quebecers.”

“Mr. Dubé failed in his position, in his mandate as health minister, and to move forward we need somebody new, someone with an open mind who will listen to the federations, to the citizens to find a better solution for our health-care system,” Dr. Kalin told CTV News.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Dubé was not listening and this led to the disaster of Bill 2, with the [premier] had to intervene and find a solution because Mr Dubé was not able to accomplish that.”

Joël Arseneau, the Parti Québécois’ spokesperson on health, also did not mince words in his reaction to the news.

“For those who still doubted that the CAQ had capitulated completely to the doctors, the decision by [Dubé] offers the most striking confirmation of Premier Legault’s disavowal. The latter will have turned a government mess in health care into a monumental political failure,” Arseneau wrote on X.

Dubé said Thursday that he will continue to serve his constituents in his riding of La Prairie, but outside the CAQ.

His resignation comes on the same day that Quebec Liberal leader Pablo Rodriguez formally announced his resignation after several weeks of controversies in his party.

With files from CTV News’ Caroline Van Vlaardingen and The Canadian Press