After approximately 10 months of negotiations, the NBMS was pleased to present a tentative 2025-2029 Physician Services Agreement to all members eligible to vote on November 5, 2025. A week later, NBMS membership voted overwhelmingly in favour of the agreement, which is retroactive to April 1, 2025, and expires March 31, 2029.
In preparation for the conclusion of the previous agreement on March 31, 2025, the NBMS Board of Directors appointed a Negotiations Committee in late 2024, following extensive consultation with members. Feedback was gathered through surveys, regional forums, input from the Family Medicine and Specialty Councils, Salaried and Fee-for-Service Economics Committees, individual Sections, and direct conversations with members, all of which helped shape the mandate brought to the table.
2025 Negotiations Committee
- Dr. Ben Hoyt, Chair, Otolaryngologist, Fredericton
- Dr. Samantha Gray, Medical Oncologist, Saint John
- Dr. Carl Boucher, Family Medicine Specialist, Caraquet
- Dr. Darren Martin, Family Medicine Specialist, Moncton
- Dr. Joanne Attard, General Surgeon, Saint John
Formal negotiations with the government began on January 28, 2025. The three major priorities for this round of negotiations were:
- Rebuilding primary care,
- Restoring specialty competitiveness, and
- Resetting the provincial salary scales
Other key features of this agreement include stabilizing acute care, increasing technology adoption, physician health and wellness, equity and rural health and simplifying Medicare programs.
Over the past three years, other provinces have made generational investments in physician compensation. New Brunswick needed to first catch up, and then keep up, with the rest of the country to ensure we have the required resources to stabilize and improve patient access, and that we remain a destination of choice for medical professionals. After reviewing the Tentative Agreement, the NBMS Board of Directors felt it put us in a position to do just that and proceeded to unanimously recommend its ratification.
During the weeklong voting window, four virtual town halls were held to explain key features of the agreement and answer questions from members. These information sessions included a core presentation to provide a general overview, as well as tailored sessions to offer deep dives for different member groups, including family medicine, specialty and salaried physicians.
Voting, which was conducted online only and hosted by Simply Voting, closed on November 12. The NBMS Board of Directors then reviewed the results of the vote and formally endorsed the agreement. Both the level of participation in the vote, and the result itself, were high water marks for the organization.
Following ratification, the NBMS and Department of Health each issued news releases announcing the results, and a news conference featuring Premier Susan Holt, Minister of Health Dr. John Dornan, and NBMS President Dr. Lise Babin was held on November 20.
While a strong majority of members approved of the Tentative Agreement, some physicians did raise concerns about items they felt were not adequately addressed, including gender pay equity within our fee schedule, stabilizing walk-in clinics, locum compensation and the need to have an in-depth review of our approach in the distribution of our economic increases. This feedback is taken seriously by the Board, and the NBMS will strive to address these issues in the coming months.
Work is now underway to begin implementing the terms of the agreement in collaboration with Department of Health representatives. We have also begun communicating the next steps to the different economic sections of the NBMS.
The NBMS wishes to recognize the tremendous amount of work and personal time invested by the Negotiations Committee and staff members throughout the negotiation process. The organization is confident that this new agreement will position the province to catch up, and keep up, with the rest of Canada in physician earnings across all specialty areas. Any physician who would like more information on the new agreement is encouraged to reach out to info@nbms.nb.ca.
Jim Johnson, Communications Specialist
