Doctors’ federation postpones plan to stop teaching medical students

Dr. Marc-André Amyot, president of the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ), speaks before a legislative committee tasked with studying physician remuneration at the National Assembly in Quebec City on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Dr. Pascale Breault, left, Marc-André Amyot, Dr. Isabelle Gaston, and Dr. Benoit Heppell. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press)

The Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ) has postponed its teaching boycott until Oct. 4 and submitted a counterproposal for mediation to the Legault government.

The FMOQ announced this on Monday morning on social media, specifying that “the (boycott) of medical-administrative activities will continue” and that “the Federation still demands the withdrawal of Bill 106.”

With Bill 106, which was tabled on May 8 in the National Assembly, the government wants to link the doctors’ pay, as well as that of specialists, to performance indicators.

The two medical associations, the FMOQ and the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ), strongly oppose this and have been taking pressure tactics for several weeks.

For example, they have stopped participating in medical-administrative meetings that do not directly affect patients.

The FMSQ has also stopped teaching medical students, while the FMOQ is threatening to do the same.

An ongoing dispute

Two weeks ago, the Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec went so far as to file a motion in court requesting independent arbitration in the ongoing dispute with the government, which Quebec has refused.

Last Thursday, Premier François Legault urged doctors to stop “holding students and the population hostage.”

“It is not normal that we are not further along in the negotiations, so my appeal, once again, to the two doctors’ unions and to the chief negotiator of one of the two unions, Lucien Bouchard, is to come to the table, to propose new solutions if necessary, but to stop rejecting all solutions and defending only the status quo,” said the premier during a visit to Gatineau.

The day before, Treasury Board President France-Élaine Duranceau had “asked the federations to consider entering into a mediation process to find a way forward.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 29, 2025.