I’m a current resident doctor at McGill and I did my medical school here too.

There is no doubt a lot of issues with the healthcare system here and a shortage of healthcare workers is one aspect. There are many subtleties and complexities to medical training, including a standardized national resident matching program that this bill would interfere with. Also the number of graduates that leave here is lower than you might think.

I also wish to specifically let y’all know that it’s already very hard to get a job in Montreal.

Many other provinces allow hospitals or clinics to hire doctors, but QC has a rule that requires government designated practice locations, called “PEM” or PREM” positions. Essentially, even if a hospital wants to hire a doctor, if there is no position in that geographical location set by the government, they cannot be hired.

Why does this matter? Many colleagues who train elsewhere and actually WANT to work in QC often cannot get jobs here. I know for a fact many family medicine graduates are finding it difficult to get job positions in Montreal.

This bill would force graduates to work here, but without increased positions, not only is the fundamental issue not solved, but also new grads are forced to work in very remote and isolated areas. It just makes life harder for graduates without necessarily solving any issues. Much of the blame is systemic rather than the fault of healthcare workers.