Quebec dentists threaten to leave public system due to tense contract negotiations

File Photo: “We don’t want these negotiations to be undertaken by using threats and intimidation.” (Photo by ^@^ina (Irina Patrascu Gheorghita/Flickr,CC BY 2.0)

MONTREAL — Quebec’s dentists are threatening to pull out of the public health system, which would affect more than half a million people in the province, if the premier doesn’t intervene in tense contract negotiations.

Dentist association president Serge Langlois said Tuesday that Health Minister Gaetan Barrette can’t be trusted during contract talks and Premier Philippe Couillard must intervene.

“We don’t want these negotiations to be undertaken by using threats and intimidation,” he told reporters at a news conference.

Langlois said if Couillard doesn’t get involved, the majority of his 4,300 members will leave the public system by the end of August.

He recalled that, despite serious negotiations, when the premier was health minister, there was respect and mutual trust and the talks ended with an agreement.

“Couillard remembers that and I think it’s possible to do that, but Couillard must intervene,” Langlois added.

He said his association represents more than 95 per cent of all generalist dentists in Quebec and a strong majority will choose to leave the public system if Couillard doesn’t intervene.

Langlois warned that if the dentists quit the public system, about 620,000 people will be deprived of subsidized care except for emergency dental procedures.

He said Barrette wants to make changes that will represent an “unacceptable” 12 per cent decrease in the annual income of generalist dentists across the province, whose average annual salary is about $180,000.

Barrette reacted to the comments late Tuesday, accusing the association of “sending out erroneous messages to the public” while negotiations are taking place.

In an email to The Canadian Press, the minister’s office calls on the association to table “its final and prioritized demands, which it had already agreed to.”

It said that Barrette is open to negotiate, adding that “the collaboration of the two parties is necessary.”

The association maintains that it has done its share of compromises and Langlois denied it’s pressuring the province because of the upcoming election.

Quebecers go to the polls on Oct. 1.

“We tabled our demands in May 2017,” he said. “We are not yet in the election period.”

If the dentists decide to withdraw from the system, they have to present their request on Thursday and there’s a 30-day delay before it comes into effect.

The collective agreement between the government and generalists expired in April 2015.

Quebec covers the costs of dental care for children under 10 years old and for people living on social assistance.