QUÉBEC — A longtime Quebec minister has resigned from caucus, deepening a crisis engulfing the Quebec government over a recently passed law imposing a new payment system on the province’s doctors.

Social Services Minister Lionel Carmant announced Thursday he would leave the governing party to sit as an Independent member of the provincial legislature. He was accompanied during the press conference by Premier François Legault, a personal friend.

“The last few weeks have been difficult and have led me to refocus my priorities,” he told reporters in Quebec City. “I have always believed that political engagement should be exercised with balance, clarity, and honesty towards oneself and others.”

Carmant, a physician, expressed discomfort earlier this week with the new law, which ties part of

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