With Quebec's provincial election approaching, Arthritis Consumer Experts (ACE) has launched its #Vote4Arthritis campaign to help people living with arthritis understand the healthcare issues at stake and learn where political parties stand on improving arthritis care.
Health care is expected to be one of the defining issues of the election. For more than one million Quebecers living with arthritis, the decisions made by the next provincial government will influence how quickly they receive a diagnosis, whether they can access evidence-based treatments recommended by their health care professionals and how long they wait for surgery and rehabilitation.
For more than a decade, ACE's non-partisan #Vote4Arthritis campaign has helped voters living with arthritis learn about party commitments on arthritis care during federal and provincial elections.
Five priorities for improving arthritis care in Quebec
For the 2026 Quebec election, ACE is calling for action in five areas:
- Improve timely access to diagnosis and arthritis specialists
- Improve access to evidence-based arthritis treatment
- Reduce wait times for joint replacement surgery and rehabilitation
- Improve equitable access to arthritis care
- Strengthen accountability for arthritis care
These priorities are based on current evidence, ACE's advocacy priorities and the public policy recommendations in Arthritis Action Now: The Plan to End Arthritis in Canada.
The need for improvement is clear. Diagnosis of some forms of inflammatory arthritis can take years, sometimes more than a decade. In Quebec in 2025, only 54% of knee replacement patients and 42% of hip replacement patients received surgery within the 26-week benchmark.
Where people live also matters. Quebecers in rural, remote and underserved communities can face greater barriers to rheumatology services, multidisciplinary arthritis care and ongoing treatment.
Where do Quebec's political parties stand?
ACE is sending a five-question questionnaire to Quebec's major political parties asking what they will do to improve arthritis care.
The questions focus on the same five areas outlined in ACE's election priorities. ACE will publish the responses so voters can see where the parties stand. As election platforms are released, ACE will also review the parties' published health commitments and provide a non-partisan comparison.
Vote for Arthritis
Visit ACE's Quebec Election 2026 #Vote4Arthritis page to read the five priorities, follow party responses and learn more about the issues affecting people living with arthritis in Quebec.
Visit Vote for Arthritis: Quebec Election 2026 .