By Murray Sherriffs
Dr. Mark Roper, director of the Queen Elizabeth Family Medicine Group in Montreal’s Notre Dame de Grâce district says that five family doctors of the 25 it employs are so outraged by Bill 2—claiming that it is a punitive law that threatens to claw back their pay—that they have applied to work out of Quebec.
He says that the new law will likely lead to more departures. “..they’re leaving in response to this law because they see a significant pay cut and they’re being welcomed with open arms to Ontario.”
Roper directs primary care at the McGill University Health Centre.
He says that “…this is the best gift to Ontario they’ve had since the first referendum in 1980.”
A number of doctors argue that they risk seeing their income docked by up to 15 per cent.
Roger says that “…expenses stay the same (30 per cent of income, so when you drop the gross income by 15 per cent, that’s more like a 25-per-cent pay cut.) At the same time, other provinces are increasing their pay to doctors.”
