Doctors tell Quebec government they don't want pay increase

Some Quebec doctors say they want the government to cancel raises for the province's specialists and general practitionersand spend the money on patient care and resources for their underpaid and overworked colleagues instead.

In an open letter posted to its website, the groupMdecins qubcois pour le rgime public, which represents a variety of doctors and medical students, says that with many of the province's nurses and other health care workers at their wits' end, the money should be spread out through the health care system.

Dr. Isabelle Leblanc, president of the organization, toldCBCMontreal'sDaybreakthat with news of the doctors' pay raise coming at the same time as nurses mobilizing in protest of their working conditions, they want to show their solidarity.

"If our colleagues are happier, if our patients are getting better care, we'll all be winners, and it's not an increase in pay that will do that," she said.

As part of a deal reached earlier this month, the province's 10,000 medical specialists will see their annual salary rise from $4.7 billion to $5.4 billion in 2023, an increase of1.4 per cent each year.

According to datacompiled by theCanadian Institute for Health Information,specialists in Quebec make, on average, $403,537 a year, compared to $367,154 in Ontario.

Quebec's GPssigned an eight-year deal with the province last October that sees their pay increase by an average of 1.8 per cent per year.

'Leave the money' if you want, Barrette tells doctors

The letter was posted Sunday night and had 270 signatures by late Monday afternoon.

The province's health minister, GatanBarrette, says if the doctors want to give up their raise, they can do so, no problem. Quebec's federation of medical specialists (FMSQ), which negotiated the agreement with the government, said Monday it would not be commenting on the situation.

Speaking at the inauguration of a new superclinicin Ville-mard,Barrette said it's not up to him to say whether doctors are paid too much.

"If they feel they are overpaid, they can leave the money on the table. I guarantee you I can make good use of it."

In 2007, Barrette was the head of the federation of specialists and negotiated a contract meant to put this province's specialists on par with their counterparts in Ontario.

The Quebec government had been withholding someof the money the province's specialists are still owed under the terms of that deal.

Earlier this month, the two parties reached an agreement to pay out an undisclosed amount by March 31.

Sources told Radio-Canada thatclose to $500million will be divided up among the doctors. The amount each doctor will receive depends on their specialty.

During a news conference Monday morning,Quebec's order of nurses saidmany of its members are overwhelmed and feel like they can't give the best care to their patients.

Across the province, nurses have been sharing their exasperation with mandatory overtime requirements and staffing issues that they say leave them caring for too many patients at onceby staging sit-ins and posting videos to social media.

President Lucie Tremblaysaid while the order isn't focused on the salary negotiations of othergroups, she believes the situation with the specialists does addto nurses'frustration.

Ashamed of the pay hike

Leblanc said members and non-members alike approached the group to say something about the raises, using words such as "shame" to describe their feelings about the pay hike.

Opposition parties have blasted the government for the size of the payout, given the fact that Quebec specialists now make more than their counterparts everywhere in Canada except for P.E.I. and Yukon.

Barrette has said the discrepancy between Quebec and Ontario doctors is because the agreement made in 2007 did not anticipate government cuts in Ontario.