The Université du Québec (UQ) network hopes to have its own Faculty of Medicine within four years and is launching an offensive to promote its model, focused on family medicine and regional practice.
“UQ is clearly in a determined process to deliver a medicine program in the coming years,” says the president of this university network, Alexandre Cloutier, in an interview. The goal: to train 200 family doctors per year, starting in 2028.
Quebec has four medical faculties. Those of McGill, the University of Montreal and Laval University were launched in the 19the century, while that of the University of Sherbrooke opened its doors in 1966. For comparison, the Estrie university graduated around a hundred family doctors in 2024.
The step is therefore high and the path, undoubtedly “full of pitfalls,” acknowledges Mr. Cloutier. “But people are disappointed by the current offer. So we have a social responsibility to do better,” he adds, specifying that approximately a quarter of Quebecers do not have a family doctor.
Before Mr. Cloutier, the rector of the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), Stéphane Pallage, often spoke in the media to promote his Faculty of Health Sciences project. This has been led since April by the former head of the University of Montreal Hospital Center Fabrice Brunet.
“It’s true that when I arrived in Quebec—I came from Luxembourg—I had the ambition to bring medicine to UQAM. I still have it. But I find that the project that brings together all the UQ bodies is much stronger,” Mr. Pallage emphasizes in an interview. The four-year timeline set by UQ seems “reasonable” to him. The University of Luxembourg, where he comes from, set up its faculty after two years, he emphasizes.
A new model
For the network he directs, Alexandre Cloutier says he is imagining a program focused on family medicine, open to candidates based in the region – particularly Indigenous people – who have “values of commitment to the community”. ” We hope [avoir] a profile of students who understand that when you choose UQ, you want family medicine. You want to invest in communities, in your community. And you understand that you will perhaps serve customer profiles [différents] “, he illustrates.
The model envisaged by UQ is fragmented, far from that of current university campuses. The University wants to build on its current programs, infrastructure and researcher networks to allow medical students to take courses throughout Quebec. “Now, the physical place as such [de la Faculté], is it going to be Chicoutimi, Trois-Rivières? Will there be a stronger component in certain places? All that will be to be determined,” says Mr. Cloutier. He points out that the UQ network currently trains half of the nurses and social workers, in particular.
The UQ president will undertake a tour of chambers of commerce in the fall to promote the idea of a new faculty, which would mark a first in nearly 60 years. UQ also plans to set up a project office, for which it hopes to obtain financial support from the Quebec government.
Operation seduction
Mr. Cloutier says he has already met the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, and has established contacts with the office of the Minister of Higher Education, Pascale Déry. In a statement sent to Dutythe press officers for both firms gave UQ’s ambitions a lukewarm reception. “Currently, we are focused on increasing the cohorts in the four existing medical schools,” they wrote. “Remember, we committed to training 660 more new doctors by the end of the mandate and we are delivering on that commitment. We are increasing admissions to train 1,165 doctors per year, whereas admissions were capped at 830 per year when we arrived in 2018.”
Since 2022-2023, Quebec has lost more family doctors than it has gained. Retirements are accelerating and increasing: 21.6% of Quebec’s 9,904 family doctors are over 60 years old, according to figures provided by the Federation of General Practitioners of Quebec (FMOQ).
Stéphane Gosselin, spokesperson for the FMOQ, states that “in the short term,” the Federation’s priority is to support relocated campuses, such as that of Université Laval in Rimouski or McGill in Outaouais, managed in collaboration with UQ. Mr. Cloutier does not intend to end these collaborations. “It is obvious that [ça] will continue, probably in new forms,” he specifies, however.
At the University of Sherbrooke, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dominique Dorion, refutes Mr. Cloutier’s arguments. There are not enough internship environments in the region for the delocalized campuses to coexist with a possible UQ campus. “If UQ goes there, we will take off and we will leave them the spaces we have there,” he says.
A new Faculty of Medicine, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea or not,” says Dr.r Dorion. “But it requires deeper thinking than: ‘Current universities are not in the regions and do not train family doctors,’” he insists. Since the University of Sherbrooke is present in Alma, Chicoutimi, Rouyn and Moncton, Dr.r Dorion admits to being “insulted” by the argument used by UQ.
Based on very preliminary observations, still to be validated, the FMOQ notes that the relocated campuses of current universities seem to generate more family doctors. The Dr Dorion also says he notices that students who are trained in the regions tend to stay there. The FMOQ, which is working on ways to make family medicine more attractive, says it welcomes “all efforts and messages” to encourage family medicine, including that of UQ. “There is a shortage of 1,500 family doctors” in Quebec, recalls its spokesperson, Stéphane Gosselin.
Priority to family medicine
In the current system, students register for the doctorate in medicine and decide, during their training, whether they want to go into family medicine or a specialty. They then go through a Canadian resident matching service, CaRMS. In 2024, 87 positions remained vacant in family medicine after the second round, and 71 of them were in Quebec.
With its program, UQ is betting on attracting students who are already interested in family medicine, and therefore less likely to turn to a specialty once they reach the matching stage. “We know that there are so many people who are refused entry into medicine, and yet have the necessary R rating. [Donc on sait] that there is no issue in our ability to recruit,” says Mr. Cloutier.
Again here, the Dr Dorion refutes his argument. “There is no scenario where we are able to add, for example, thirty students per year and offer them internship environments,” he says.
In an interview, Mr. Cloutier wards off attacks against his project. It recalls the battle of the École de Technologie Supérieure, which is part of the UQ network. The Order of Engineers refused in 1978 to recognize its first generation of graduates, he illustrates.
“Every time UQ has wanted to develop a new program, it has always been blocked. This is the case at present, because there is a form of monopoly that is supported by chartered universities and, inevitably, we come to disrupt a model that is already well established,” says the president of UQ.
The University of Sherbrooke itself faced “immense” resistance before its opening in 1966, recalls Dr.r Dorion. “There were relatively few arguments, other than the fact that there was not the pool of experienced professors [à Sherbrooke] “, he recalls.
