Opinion: Quebec's imposed health reform echoes errors from 1990s

Quebecers who remember the 1990s recall a health-care system turned upside down. In the name of fiscal discipline, hospitals were closed or merged, and thousands of nurses and physicians were encouraged to retire early. The result was a leaner network on paper — and one that took decades to recover.

Today, with the passage of Bill 2 , the government risks repeating that history.

Once again, sweeping reform is being imposed from above, this time through a law that reshapes how doctors are paid and that penalizes what the government calls “concerted actions” — like inciting a professional to withdraw from the health system — with heavy fines.

The intention — to improve access to care — is laudable. The danger lies in the method: forcing rapid structural change without first stabilizing th