Mr. Speaker, Quebec's National Assembly adopted Bill 2 last month.
On November 9, 20 clinics in my riding and nearby warned that they may need to close their doors as a direct result of Bill 2.
Government funding and the salaries of the doctors who finance these public clinics will decrease significantly. Meanwhile, these clinics will be forced to see more patients more quickly, with fewer resources and longer hours.
These clinics care for over 415,000 people in the west end of Montreal. They offered more than one million appointments last year. They employ almost 400 doctors. Six to eight weeks from now, many of these clinics may close, not because of choice but because of Bill 2. If the law forces them to close, their patients will have no choice but to go to already overcrowded emergency rooms.
This would be disastrous for patients in my riding and across Quebec. I call on the Quebec government to amend Bill 2.