Quebec's GPs seal deal on annual 1.8% pay raise over 8 years

Quebec's family doctors have voted overwhelmingly in favour ofan eight-year deal that will see their pay increase by an average of 1.8 per cent per year.

"We're pleased with this agreement because it is based on a principlethat is dear to us: equity," said Dr. LouisGodin, the president of Quebec's federation of general practitioners (FMOQ), at a news conference Friday.

"Equity with Canadian physicians, with specialist doctors, and that's why 96 per cent of our members have accepted this agreement in principle," he said.

FMOQ reached a tentativedealin late August, concludingten years of friction between the Quebec government and its 9,500 family doctors over the equity issue and government austerity measures.

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The general practitioners have long sought to catch up with their Ontario counterparts and to reduce the gap betweentheir salaries and those of Quebec specialists, who earn $409,000 annually, on average.

Godin said with this agreement, the average family doctor will still earn 15 to 20 per cent less than a doctor in Ontario.

$840 million total package

Quebec's general practitionersnow earn an average annual income of $245,000. The deal will mean an extra $4,400 annually, on average, bringing their annual average salary to $280,000 by 2023.

In total, the deal will cost the government $840 million $340 million for the negotiated annual increase and $500 million still owed to the doctors from past agreements.

In all, $63 million is new money, that is, not previouslyaccounted for by Quebec's Treasury Board.

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Treasury Board President Pierre MoreausaidFriday theagreement puts an end to a decade ofto-ing and fro-ing.

"Today's agreement does two things:it settles the government's debts on the funds owed to the general practitioners, totally, and it says, 'We're going to add new money over the next eight years,'"Moreau said on Radio-Canada'sMidi Inforadio program.