Montreal Clinics Face Closure, Raising Patient Access Concerns Amid New Healthcare Law
Montreal, December 3, 2025 – Dozens of medical clinics across Quebec, including those in Montreal, are warning they may be forced to close or considerably reduce services in the new year due to the financial impact of Bill 2, a recently implemented healthcare law. The legislation ties a portion of doctors’ salaries to meeting specific performance targets, a move critics argue will exacerbate existing strains on the province’s healthcare system and jeopardize patient care.
Santé Mont-Royal, a family health clinic in Montreal, is forecasting a 45 per cent loss in revenue once Bill 2 fully takes effect. “this entire new law that was non-negotiated, that was falsely conceived and thought out, is going to have a significant impact on us being able to provide care in a clinic,” said Dr. Mark Buch, the medical director and co-owner of the clinic.
A survey conducted by the journal de Montréal indicates roughly 40 clinics province-wide are considering closure as a result of the bill.Dr. Buch highlighted the unattainable nature of the performance targets, including a collective goal of 17.5 million appointments annually for general practitioners. “These performance objectives are quantity based,” Buch said. “They’re not quality based. they make no sense. And eventually patients suffer.”
The concerns extend beyond family medicine. La Licorne, a clinic in Ville-Marie specializing in STI screenings, anticipates a revenue loss of up to 80 per cent under Bill 2. Dr. Robert Pilarski, the clinic’s medical director, explained the proposed funding cuts – from $75 to $5 per patient - are unsustainable. “If prep doesn’t exist, people will not have access to the treatment to the STI screening. We’re going to have STIs going up. We’re going to have new infections of HIV going up.”
Paul Brunet, Chair of the Montreal Council for the Protection of Patients, warned that the potential closure of 40 clinics could leave an estimated 100,000 patients without access to care. “If the threats of so many doctors, so many clinics are put in reality, it’s going to be chaos, totally, in Quebec,” Brunet stated.
Bill 2 was introduced in October and builds upon existing pressures faced by Quebec family doctors, who are already required to fulfill mandatory government-assigned duties, such as ER shifts, outside of their clinics. Doctors like Dr. Buch fear the combined burden will compromise their ability to provide consistent, quality care to their patients, impacting the over 24,000 individuals served by his clinic alone.
