Quebec Court of Appeal rejects challenge to allocation of family physicians

The Court of Appeal of Quebec is seen in Montreal, Wednesday, March 27, 2019. Quebec's Court of Appeal agrees with a lower court that a Montreal hospital can permanently remove a breathing tube from a child who has been in a coma since June despite his parents objections. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

The Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that the allocation plan for family physicians and the method used by the Minister of Health were valid.

The ruling means Dr. Mark Roper and his lawyer, Julius Grey, did not convince the judges that there was a real injustice to the population of Montreal.

In an e-mail to The Canadian Press, Grey expressed his disappointment and said he was considering taking his case to the Supreme Court.

In the decision signed by Justices Stephen W. Hamilton, Martin Vauclair and Frédéric Bachand, the court upheld the trial decision handed down by Judge Dominique Poulin. The "meticulous" nature of the Superior Court's judgment was also emphasized.

The argument put forward by Grey and Dr. Roper is that Montreal is at a disadvantage compared to the majority of Quebec regions. According to Dr. Roper's figures, the city has the worst registration rate with a family doctor and, from one year to the next, the minister uses his discretionary power to deprive the metropolis of new doctors in favour of other regions.

The petitioners argued that the system was "unreasonable" and even violated the Canadian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms.

However, the judges of the Court of Appeal came to the same conclusion as Justice Poulin, namely that the insufficient number of primary care family physicians "does not result from the minister's allocation of resources, but rather from the insufficient number of physicians to meet the needs at the provincial level."

In his petition, Dr. Roper also denounced the fact that the calculation used to allocate the workforce did not take into account the rate of registration with a family doctor. He also criticized the Ministry of Health for not considering the actual pool of patients served by Montreal and for relying solely on the number of inhabitants.

The judges reiterated, however, that it was not the role of the courts to substitute for legislative, executive or administrative powers in this situation.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 27, 2023.

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