Letters: Health care isn't an assembly line

Montreal Gazette

30-05-2025

I think we should be very concerned that Bill 106 proposes to link up to 25 per cent of a doctor's pay to various performance objectives.
As a student, I worked on an engine assembly line. The salary was indirectly tied to the number of engines produced. That measure seems reasonable for industrial production.
However, I become nervous as a patient when a doctor, in analyzing our health issues, is pressured by performance objectives. Humans are different, and symptoms and conditions are not the same for all.
Our daughter graduated almost 10 years ago as a doctor specializing in anesthesiology. Quebec had no residency available for her, but she was offered one in Alberta. She preferred to work instead of waiting another year and hoping for an opening here, so off she went out west.
She could come home to Quebec, but would earn less than in Alberta, be chided by politicians to work more, and have no work-life balance. Why should she consider it?
Ragnar Radtke, Beaconsfield
Democracy in decline under CAQ
Re: ' Dubé's bill could push physicians out, doctors warn ' and ' French-language sign rules kick in June 1, and non-compliance penalties are stiff ' (The Gazette, May 28)
I wonder just when it was that our governments — and the Coalition Avenir Québec in particular — decided it was their responsibility to arbitrarily impose legislation and regulations onto the backs of taxpayers they purportedly have been elected to represent and serve.
Aren't our doctors and retailers significant enough stakeholders in society to be encouraged rather than punished by the province?
Unfortunately, under Premier François Legault, Quebec seems to have adopted an Orwellian 'Big Brother knows best' authoritarian mode of government with its unilateral implementation of whatever the CAQ decides is in the best interest of Quebecers.
As a result, democracy — famously defined by Abraham Lincoln as 'government of the people, by the people, for the people' — appears to be rapidly disappearing in Quebec.
One can only hope that next year's provincial election may help remedy the situation.
Eric Bender, Kirkland
Grand adventure in art of listening
Re: ' N.S. man embarks on 'listening tour' across Canada ' (The Gazette, May 20)
As a former oncology social worker at a major teaching hospital in Montreal, I can well appreciate the value of compassionate listening and how it can bring untold benefits to the heart, mind and spirit of someone who desperately needs to be heard.
The art of listening is a gift. Too often, people and patients who earnestly wish to express deeply held emotions are cut off by those being spoken to with the offer of deceptive comfort — 'don't worry, everything is going to be all right.'
Retired social worker Paul Jenkinson has embarked upon a 'listening tour' across Canada. He creates a safe space and listens to those who need to speak their mind, providing a most meaningful example of catharsis.
The Dalai Lama effectively sums up Jenkinson's 'grand adventure' with his quote: 'Love and kindness are not a luxury, but a source of health and happiness for others and ourselves.'
Brahms E. Silver, Côte-St-Luc
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