Legault halts wage increases for medical specialists

Money will instead stay in trust fund pending talks

QUEBEC Premier François Legault has acted on an election promise and slapped a freeze on wage increases for medical specialists pending the results of a new study and a fresh round of negotiations.

Emerging from a meeting of the new cabinet, Legault told reporters he got a “bad surprise” in taking power from the Liberals. Contrary to his impression, no study on the wage differences between Quebec and Ontario doctors had been authorized by the previous regime.

That means the CAQ government’s renegotiation of contracts with specialists signed by the Liberals will have to start later because the study is needed first, Legault said.

In the meantime, the increases granted to the Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) will not be accorded. The money will sit in a trust fund pending the results of talks.

“They are not significant amounts compared to the millions already given,” Legault said announcing he has put Treasury Board President Christian Dubé in charge of negotiating with specialists.

Legault turned the blame back on the Liberals for failing to order the study. The original plan had been to ask the independent Canadian Institute for Health Information to conduct the research.

“I think the Liberal government was dragging its feet and it is unacceptable,” Legault said.

“We unfortunately got a surprise on arriving, no mandate has been given for the study to be conducted.”

That study was included in the deal worked out between the government and the specialists eight months ago.

During the election campaign Legault ripped the Liberals for giving Quebec’s specialists more money than those in Ontario while Quebec’s nurses suffer work overloads and people wait for care.

The CAQ believes the specialists now earn on average $80,000 more a year than they should given Quebec’s lower cost of living. The increases are the result of an agreement designed to have their wages catch up with those of other doctors in Ontario.

In the election campaign, Legault said he believes the government gave $1 billion too much to specialists.

The specialists have defended the agreement insisting they are not greedy.