From the president

Reflections during the Voting Period

Today is July 12, 2011

I am writing these thoughts just at the time when the Quebec Federation of General Practitioners has mailed out a ballot along with the documents it had promised to all family physicians in Quebec, explaining the agreement in principle. In the coming weeks, we will learn your verdict on this long process.

I certainly could have waited for the results of the vote, but my reflections would have been tinged by whatever the outcome was. In any case, I will have the chance to comment a bit later.

The past few years have been one of the… More details

Quotas in the delivery rooms and Program 68

For several weeks now, the technical negotiating committees have been laying the groundwork for the negotiations that are officially scheduled to begin in September 2010.

It is clear in our minds that we will first have to debate the financial conditions before anything else. We cannot see how to launch our major campaign to raise the profile of family medicine and to reach the point where every Quebec resident has a family physician without investing the required amounts. This being said, we will quickly see the direction that the talks will take. The table has been set.

On the local scene,… More details

Be ready… your support is a must

At the beginning of April, the Federation held its annual presidents’ meeting, which involved two days of reflection on the theme of negotiation and mobilization of our “troops.”

You can well imagine that it was easy enough to obtain unanimity concerning our objectives and the desire to reach them. We have set ambitious goals, as you know, and without the support of each and every one of you, we will not be able to succeed.

In the current political and economic context, enhancing the value of family medicine by changing our organizational models, increasing and adapting the support needed to practice… More details

Negociations and Activities

As you all know, our general agreement will expire on March 31, 2010. The Federation is ready. We formally submitted our list of demands and proposals at the negotiating table on March 3 and 4, 2010.

One week later, we were addressing the general public at a press conference where we presented our proposals for resolving the chronic problems of first line care in Quebec. The next negotiating session is scheduled for the end of April, when the government will present its responses.

We are currently focusing on concluding the negotiations concerning the unclaimed portion of our budgetary envelope. This sum… More details