‘Made me question whether I should practice in Quebec’: impact of political climate on med students

Quebec family doctors are calling on a change in the political discourse to attract more students to the profession. (Nathan Denette, The Canadian Press)

Medical students are opening up about the thoughts that crossed their minds when it came time to choose their residency, as the standoff between family doctors and the government was in full swing.

The medical students who spoke to The Canadian Press say they chose family medicine as their sole residency choice because they were drawn to the versatility of this specialty.

The standoff, however, cast a shadow over family medicine, and many students had second thoughts about pursuing this path.

The results of the first round of matching by the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS) showed that 146 family medicine residency positions remained unfilled in Quebec. In the rest of Canada, there were 105 unfilled positions in family medicine.

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The number of unfilled positions after the second round of matching will be released on April 21.

“Young people are already very hesitant about what career path to take in the future,” said Félicia Harvey, a medical student at the Université de Montréal. “So, of course, if there are events like this that add pressure and uncertainty, well, they pay the price, and that’s kind of what we’re seeing with this year’s match.”

Students had until the end of November to make their residency choices. Former Health Minister Christian Dubé had passed the controversial Bill 2 under closure a month earlier, which aimed to overhaul the way doctors are compensated.

Called into question

Rosalie Kègle, who is currently completing her externship at the Université de Sherbrooke, agrees. The political climate at the time created uncertainty.

“I think the government blamed family doctors for many problems over which they have no control. Of course, I wondered if I really wanted to get involved in that,” she said in a phone interview.

She wondered if she might ultimately be better off in another specialty.

“But in the end, I told myself I was going to focus on what I love. The rest—the political climate, the health-care system—we’ll see as we go along. I’m going to try not to let that influence me,” she said.

“Unfortunately, not everyone thought the same way I did. [...] I personally know people who were planning to go into family medicine and decided to pursue other specialties, and that’s perfectly fine too. It’s a valid choice. I totally understand them; I was in that same place myself.”

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Alexandre Rivard, who is studying medicine at the Université de Montréal, was also drawn to “the breadth of patient care” that a general practitioner can provide. He is in a unique situation, as he previously completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

The undertones in political discourse suggesting that doctors don’t do enough led him to reflect on his future.

“It really made me question whether I should practice in Quebec or not—or, to be perfectly honest, I even asked myself, ‘Should I go back to mechanical engineering?’”

Rivard recalled why he had chosen to switch to medicine. The contact with people and the ability to help communities kept him on this path.

Attraction to the region

Although everyone agrees that it was a trying fall, for some students, the tension between the federations and the government did not cause them to question their future. This is the case for Étienne Turcotte, who was exposed to family medicine as early as his first year at Université Laval. He had completed an internship in Les Escoumins through the Sarros program (Support for Regions in Recruiting General Practitioners and Specialists).

A native of the North Shore, he was immediately drawn to regional medicine. He is not alone. The enthusiasm for studying medicine outside major urban centres is evident in several medical schools. At Université Laval, for example, the 57 spots in the integrated longitudinal externship (ELI) program have already been filled for 2026–2027.

“It’s true that it was a pretty tense period politically; there were major debates on the political stage across Quebec,” said Turcotte. “But personally, it actually motivated me even more [...] to pursue family medicine and to lend a helping hand to people on the ground.”

Being in contact with many family physicians during his first year of externship solidified his choice.

“Not specializing in anything, but staying more of a generalist—I find that very interesting,” Turcotte said. “The idea of building lasting relationships with patients over many years, watching them grow, helping them in their lives, seeing them have children, and following their children.”

Félicia Harvey hasn’t second-guessed her decision either. “For me, it didn’t really have an impact because my thinking is that we shouldn’t choose our life’s work based on the current political climate, because I sincerely believe things will change,” the student said.

She acknowledges, however, that in recent years, and particularly this fall, the climate has been “very toxic for family medicine.”

Harvey, who is also vice-president of the Quebec Medical Students’ Federation (FMEQ), has seen colleagues who were considering doing their residency in family medicine and who changed their minds.

“Some felt it seemed easier. Others are deeply affected by hearing negative comments about their work, even though they feel they’re working hard and doing everything they can for their patients,” she said.

Harvey is optimistic about the future.

“I think there will continue to be critical moments like this for medicine due to negotiations, reforms, and all that,” she said, “but at the end of the day, we have to focus on what matters to us and pay a little less attention to the political climate.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 4, 2026.

Katrine Desautels, The Canadian Press

The Canadian Press’s health coverage is supported by a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for this journalistic content.