Opening up Regulation: The Curious Case of Medical Doctors’ Regulating Body Opening to Share Formerly Reserved Acts with Other Health Professions in Quebec (Canada).

As elsewhere in advanced Western economies, professions in Canada are undergoing important transformations, spurred by technological innovation, change in the relation between citizens and experts, and transformations of the link between professions and the State. This is especially true of regulated professions, where the relations between professions and the State are currently subject to profound reformulations. This is most relevant among Quebec’s ecologies of regulated professions, its regulatory framework being under scrutiny, aiming in recent years at simplifying its processes, showing more flexibility and being more adaptable to ongoing challenges. This communication will look at the medical profession in Quebec as a case study in these processes. Relying mostly on Abbott’s notion of linked ecologies (Abbott, 2005) and the neo-institutionalist approach (Powell and DiMaggio, 1985), I will use documentary evidence from 2017 to 2024, to analyse its evolution. One of the major trends in these years has been an increase in interprofessional collaboration, translating into more elements from the medical doctors’ scope of practice being shared with other professions. This is particularly salient with various actors’ positions surrounding the proposed Bill 67 to amend the Professional Code, currently under consideration by National Assembly. Beside pure virtue, how can such a trend be explained? My contextual analysis will look at how a dominant profession opens its borders and accepts other professions into its (former) exclusive acts. Considering the social, political and economic context, this analysis intends to propose a few conclusions regarding these trends towards collaboration between professions. First, it seems that this collaboration trend is well received by other professions, who could benefit from such opportunities. Second, this further opening of its borders is better understood when put in the larger context of the profession of medical doctors profession's larger history.