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Advertisement 1This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Thousands of doctors and medical students pack Montreal's Bell Centre for a protest against Bill 2 on Sunday November 9, 2025. Photo by René Bruemmer /Montreal GazetteArticle contentWearing blue felt squares and bearing placards depicting broken hearts and the slogan “Care, not chaos,” thousands of doctors and medical students congregated at Montreal’s Bell Centre Sunday for one of the largest protests of its kind in Quebec’s history.Sign In or Create an Accountor View more offersArticle contentHealth federations said there were 12,000 in attendance, filling all but the arena’s upper levels.Article contentWe apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.We apologize, but this video has failed to load.Try refreshing your browser, ortap here to see other videos from our team.Article content“No to Bill 2,” the protesters chanted, in a rally resembling a rock concert. Doctors were bused in from all regions of the province. Many brought their children.Article contentAdvertisement 1Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentThe event was organized by the province’s main medical federations representing family doctors, specialists, students and residents. The physicians and future doctors were protesting new health legislation enacted by the Quebec government that changes the way doctors are paid for their work, and threatens steep fines of up to $20,000 a day for those who disrupt medical services through protests.Article contentProtesters booed videos of Premier François Legault and Health Minister Christian Dubé speaking in favour of the law, and cheered on a band composed entirely of physicians that performed before speeches by the medical federations’ leaders.Article contentProtest against Quebec health legislation Bill 2 draws 12,000 doctors and students to Bell Centre in Montreal, medical federations say pic.twitter.com/2nmDCFWvT0— Rene Bruemmer (@ReneBruemmer) November 9, 2025Article contentAdvertisement 2Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentThe Coalition Avenir Québec government says the reforms are needed to give 1.5 million Quebecers lacking a family doctor access to care. Physicians argue the reforms are ill founded, will impede doctors’ ability to offer care, and are a hidden attempt to cut costs.Article contentRead More Quebec doctors warn Bill 2 threatens children’s access to care Opinion: I'm a doctor who fled to Quebec for freedom. This isn't it Advertisement 1Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentGeorge Michaels, 70, has practised family medicine for 40 years and was planning to continue until Bill 2 caused him to have second thoughts. He likened the law to “throwing accelerant on a small fire,” saying it will make inadequate access to care much worse.Article content“Their bill is going to have a negative impact on health care in the province, similar to the 1990s during other government reforms that closed several hospitals in the province and thousands of doctors and nurses were let go,” he said. “It took 10 years to recover from that. This could be even more severe.”Article contentReforms of the last few years have been effective at getting patients affiliated with clinics and building charts for their medical history to support ongoing care, Michaels said.Advertisement 1This advertisement has not loaded yet.Trending 'No to Bill 2': Thousands of doctors pack Bell Centre for massive protest against health-care law Local News Cowan: What a difference a year makes for the Canadiens Hockey Inside Out Update: Up to 10 cm of snow expected Sunday in first winter storm for Montreal Weather About Last Night: Cole Caufield takes league lead in goal scoring Montreal Canadiens Zurkowsky: Davis Alexander does it again as Alouettes head to Grey Cup Montreal Alouettes Advertisement 2AdvertisementThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content“We were building on that and now for unknown reasons, the government is changing the formula,” he said. “We think they have budgetary problems, that it’s a hidden agenda.”Article contentPayments to general practitioners could fall 30 to 40 per cent, putting the future of many medical clinics at risk. Michaels works for two clinics that serve a total of 80,000 patients. “Imagine that multiplied by 340 clinics in the province,” he said.Article contentDoctors rally outside Bell Centre prior to mass protest expected to bring thousands of physicians out to demonstrate against Bill 2, the CAQ’s contentious “doctors’ law” pic.twitter.com/BYKC9PO3r8— Rene Bruemmer (@ReneBruemmer) November 9, 2025Article contentAdvertisement 3Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentChanges in the health-care system can be seen when patients apply for blood tests and “mainly private clinics come up,” said Dr. Yael Acre, protesting with her colleagues outside the Bell Centre as flurries fell prior to the rally.Article content“It’s getting harder and harder for patients to get free health care that they pay taxes for,” Acre said. “(The government is) banking on the fact that as doctors we want to do no harm, that we put that patient first. But there comes a limit.Article content“This is a punch in the gut for all the hard work we do.”Article contentUnder Bill 2, doctors will be expected to meet quotas on the numbers of patients seen, or face financial penalties.Article content“How is a surgeon waiting to do their surgery expected to hit their efficiency numbers if there are no cleaners to clean the operating room or if the nurse doesn’t show up?” Acre said.Article content“I would like to see the law repealed,” she said. “I would like the public, each and every one, to contact their MNA and say free health care is under threat. That as doctors not only are we thinking of leaving the province, some of us are giving up medicine entirely. Some of us are retiring early. There will be no students or other doctors coming into Quebec, because it’s too authoritarian.”Article contentAdvertisement 4Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.Article contentThe rally was organized by the Fédération médicale étudiante du Québec (FMEQ), Fédération des médecins résidents du Québec (FMRQ), Fédération des médecins spécialistes du Québec (FMSQ) and Fédération des médecins omnipraticiens du Québec (FMOQ).Article content“We have brought together the province’s four medical federations. This is the first time this has happened,” said FMSQ spokesperson Pâris Psychogyios. “The rally is meant to show our dismay with the new law, and also to bring people together, because we know there is a lot of distress among our members.Article content“We also want to demonstrate that Bill 2 is useless and counterproductive. What we’re asking for is more resources in the health system so that patients can be served, which isn’t addressed in Bill 2.”Article contentThe government invoked closure on Oct. 25 to force Bill 2 into law, arguing that changes are necessary to ensure all Quebecers have access to a family doctor and prompt medical attention. The new law spurred a widespread outcry, with doctors saying they’re being made the scapegoats for an inefficient system, and that the changes will reduce the level of service they can provide to patients.Advertisement 2This advertisement has not loaded yet. Advertisement 3Story continues belowThis advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article contentHundreds have applied for work permits in other provinces, Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant resigned his post and left the Coalition Avenir Québec caucus in solidarity with his physician wife and daughter, and two of the province’s medical federations have launched lawsuits.Article contentAttempts by the government to revive negotiations with doctors by suspending parts of the law have failed so far.Article contentBill 2 “profoundly transforms medical practice in Quebec and calls into question the very foundations of the relationship between the state and the profession,” Dr. Marc-André Amyot, president of the FMOQ, wrote in a statement urging physicians to attend the rally.Article contentIn the invitation to physicians, doctors working on Sunday were advised not to cancel their activities to attend.Article content“The terms and conditions imposed by the law could have consequences, and our mobilization must in no way compromise access to care for the population,” the statement read.Article contentIn 2002, medical specialists gathered at the Olympic Stadium to protest Bill 114, which was promoted by François Legault, who at the time was health minister under the Parti Québécois.Article contentIn 2017, more than 3,000 medical specialists gathered at the Olympic Stadium to protest health reforms launched by the Liberal government under health minister Gaétan Barrette.Article contentThis story will be updated.Article contentAdvertisement 3This advertisement has not loaded yet. 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