Quebec paramedics, ambulance technicians to strike Dec. 24 but keep essential service

A paramedic loads his stretcher back into the ambulance after bringing a patient to the emergency room at a hospital in Montreal, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Ryan Remiorz)

Nearly 40 ambulance services in Quebec are planning an indefinite strike starting on Christmas Eve.

The 39 unions are affiliated with the Fédération du préhospitalier du Québec and represent more than 2,000 paramedics and ambulance technicians in the province.

Union spokesperson Jérémie Corneau-Landry says paramedics will continue to work all their shifts and that the strike will have no impact on services to the public.

“There is no pressure tactic that affects service to the public,” he said. “So when the public calls for ambulance service, they will see no impact from our strike.”

However, he specified that they will refuse to perform certain tasks, such as supervising trainees and transporting medical personnel.

The Quebec Labor Tribunal approved the unions’ plan to maintain essential services during the strike and concluded that the public will not be endangered.

Corneau-Landry said that workers have been without a collective agreement since March and are mainly demanding improvements to their pension plan.

“It’s not normal for a paramedic who wants to retire without penalty or reduction in pension to have to work until age 65,” Corneau-Landry said. “It’s an extremely difficult job, both physically and mentally.”

Corneau-Landry emphasizes that the goal “is really to improve and enhance the pension fund so that we can add a factor or something more attractive to keep our paramedics in place, to keep them on the job, to allow them to retire in an acceptable state of physical and psychological health and at a reasonable age.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 23, 2025.