Quebec Doctors Flee Province Amid New Legislation, Flock to Northern Ontario

In the weeks leading up to November 15, 2025, a significant number of Quebec doctors have been seeking opportunities to practice medicine in northern Ontario. This exodus from Quebec has been driven by the passing of Bill 2, a new piece of legislation that will take effect in the new year and link physician compensation to performance targets related to the number of patients on their rosters.

The legislation also imposes fines of up to $500,000 per day on doctors who take "concerted action" to challenge the government's policies. This has led many Quebec physicians to view the changes as "very short-sighted," according to Dr. Doug Arnold, a family physician in Timmins, Ontario.

Physician recruiters in northern Ontario towns like Timmins and Hearst have already seen a surge of interest from Quebec doctors, with over 260 applying to work in Ontario by mid-November. The city of Timmins, in particular, is seen as an attractive destination due to its large francophone population, with around half the residents speaking French as their primary language.

"I have a bunch of meetings [with Quebec doctors] lined up next week," said Melanie Goulet, a coordinator with the Hearst Medical Recruitment Alliance. She noted that much of the early interest is for locum positions, where doctors travel to small rural communities for short periods to fill in for family physicians, emergency room doctors, and specialists.

This unprecedented exodus of doctors from Quebec is a concerning trend, according to Dr. Sarah Newbery, a family physician in Marathon, Ontario. "I've been a practicing clinician for 29 years. I have never seen that degree of frustration, and frankly, sort of exodus from a particular place," she said, drawing comparisons to the recent exodus of doctors in the United States due to the policies of the Trump administration.