Bill to force new Quebec doctors to stay in province raises legal questions: expert [Video]

Proposed Quebec legislation to force new doctors to practise in the province’s public system for five years after they graduate could potentially violate Charter-guaranteed rights to freedom of movement, a constitutional lawyer said Wednesday.

The bill tabled earlier this week by Health Minister Christian Dubé would require family doctors and medical specialists to sign a contract agreeing to practise in Quebec’s public system for the five-year period or else face financial penalties.

“Quebecers understand that we want to strengthen our public system,” Dubé told reporters on Tuesday. “I think that it’s a minimum to ask students who graduate in medicine, in our major universities, which have an international reputation, in Quebec, to have this obligation.”

Constitutional lawyer Frédéric Bérard says the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the right of citizens to move to any province to live and work. He said a judge would have to decide whether …