Doctors take N.B. government to court over fee freeze
Last Updated: Friday, July 3, 2009 | 6:22 AM AT
CBC News
The New Brunswick Medical Society has taken its fight against the provincial government's two-year fee freeze to the next level by launching its promised court action.
The medical society filed court documents in Saint John on June 26 stating that it wants a Court of Queen's Bench judge to declare that a bill passed by the legislature and given royal assent on June 19 should not be proclaimed by the provincial cabinet.
The documents claim the legislated freeze violates the doctors' rights to "natural justice and procedural fairness."
They also claim the freeze would cause them "irreparable harm" and would result in a significant inconvenience.
Dr. Ludger Blier, the president of the medical society, said he didn't think the dispute with the provincial government would escalate to this level.
"We negotiated in good faith, we had a tentative agreement, the government had signed off on it, and they changed their minds. I mean, yes, I'm disappointed," Blier said.
The medical society argues in the documents that the doctors are entitled to mediation or binding arbitration, instead of facing the proposed two-year freeze.
If the law is proclaimed, the medical society wants it to be quashed by the court.
The organization argues the legislated freeze is an infringement on its members' rights and privileges under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
It also claims then-health minister Michael Murphy and Premier Shawn Graham should not have unilaterally altered the tentative agreement reached last December without meaningful consultation with the medical society.
A hearing will be held Aug. 6. The government has not yet filed a response and officials have declined comment.
All public servants face 2-year wage freeze
The New Brunswick government has imposed a two-year wage freeze on all public servants as a way to battle the projected $740-million deficit.
The law passed by the legislature would extend the doctors' current contract, which expired in March 2008, until April 2010.
As the law was being debated, Murphy said if the doctors agreed to a two-year pay freeze the province would save about $36 million, including $25 million from fee-for-service doctors who bill the province by procedure or patient, and $9 million from salaried physicians.
Some of the doctors have argued that the plan will hurt the ability of the province to recruit and retain physicians.
