The DNA of PLS
PLS brings together health systems and inspires those who transform primary care, front-line health and community services in Canada, day after day.
Discover the events
Who is PLS?
PLS is Canada’s largest gathering and event platform dedicated to health, primary care and front-line services, founded and produced by Isabelle Girard, CEO of Productions Plakett, a family-owned company. Each year, it brings together the public and parapublic sector, the community sector, governments and industry, including policy-makers, elected officials, managers, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs, united by a shared conviction: front-line care is at the heart of the healthcare system.
Its signature event is held every spring in Montreal, and PLS also organizes other activities: forums, co-creation workshops and thematic days. PLS exists to drive concrete progress in access to care and the transformation of healthcare systems. Its reports, podcast and other publications carry the conversation forward well beyond the events themselves.
Our mission
Front-line care and primary care are at the heart of the healthcare system and serve as the main point of entry for people across the country. PLS’s mission is to bring together, in one place, those who lead, deliver and reinvent primary care every day, from decision-makers and clinicians to researchers and entrepreneurs. By connecting these perspectives, PLS helps turn strong ideas into concrete solutions and meaningful encounters into lasting collaborations.Through its annual event, strategic forums and thematic days, PLS creates the conditions that accelerate the network’s transformation across Canada and beyond, bringing together on the same stage those who decide, those who provide care and those who innovate.The ultimate goal: faster access to care, a healthier population and a healthcare system better equipped to meet the needs of the people it serves
Our vision
Our vision is a Canada where primary and front-line care, the entry point to the entire system, is recognized and organized as the essential pillar it is, for both the health of the population and the strength of the economy. A country where decision-makers, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs move forward together; where one province’s best practices quickly inspire the next; where innovation keeps pace with people’s needs; and where Canada reasserts itself as a leader on the international stage, building on a legacy of being among the world’s strongest healthcare systems.
Our value promise
Meet inspiring people and discover solutions: that is our value promise.
At PLS, barriers come down. You can speak directly with a minister, with the top executive of a national organization, or run into the managers, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs who are advancing health, primary and front-line care, all in the same aisle. You leave with lasting connections rather than a simple list of contacts, because we believe that real collaboration, the kind that actually moves things forward, is born on site, through direct conversation.
These encounters also open the door to innovation. Through talks, demonstrations and projects on display, you discover solutions already proven elsewhere, ready to be brought home and adapted. This back-and-forth between inspiration and action is what makes PLS a real opportunity to accelerate the transformation of primary and front-line care.
Our values
Creativity
At PLS, art meets science and games open up discussions. These formats are designed to spark out-of-the-box thinking and draw people in, turning creativity into a working tool, not just a visual signature.
Innovate
At PLS, innovation means never settling for what already works, but constantly asking how it can work even better. That mindset runs throughout the organization, from reverse showcases and pitch competitions to the PLS IMPACT Gala, a yearly event celebrating the ideas and innovations driving the healthcare network forward.
Value creation
At PLS, progress is built together. Every contribution matters, from the quietest voice to the most influential. By bringing diverse expertise and perspectives together, we create more collectively than any one person could achieve alone. That is what true co-creation looks like.
Generosity
At PLS, every action and every decision is guided by the same ambition: to give more, go further and raise the standard at every level. That commitment is reflected just as much in our most strategic partnerships as in the smallest details.
Rigour
At PLS, rigour starts with the standards we set for ourselves, but its impact is felt across the entire ecosystem. Our processes are designed to challenge us to improve continuously, raise the bar and never simply repeat what came before. We invest, evolve and move forward together with our community.
Decision-Makers
and Executives
Decision-Makers
and Executives
Healthcare Professionals
Managers and Organizations
Innovation and Technology
Investors and Business Ecosystem
Our community
Since its beginnings, PLS has brought together more than 10,000 professionals, as well as more than 2,000 organizations and companies actively engaged in primary care and front-line health in Canada. This community brings together stakeholders from every sector, public and its broader sector, community, government and industry, policy-makers, managers, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs who reconnect from one edition to the next. It isn’t limited to event days; it extends through Beyond PLS,: our reports, the PLS leaders podcast and other publications that extends the conversation throughout the year. Ultimately, it is this community, not the event alone, that gives PLS its strength, relevance and lasting impact.
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Our community brings together key players from all sectors.
Public
Industry
Non profit organization
Governments
Parapublic
Clinicians
Managers
Researchers
Entrepreneurs
Policymakers
Patient partners and caregivers
Regulatory colleges and associations
Our role in the
healthcare ecosystem
More Than Just an Event Organizer
PLS acts as a catalyst for Canada’s primary and front-line care ecosystem. It connects political decision-makers, managers, clinicians, researchers and entrepreneurs who might otherwise never have the opportunity to cross paths. It also serves as a platform for major announcements, innovation launches and sector-specific gatherings that help move the healthcare system forward.It is where ideas gain momentum, conversations take shape and the future of the network is explored collectively, creating opportunities for exchange and collaboration that extend far beyond a traditional congress.Through BEYOND PLS, its reports, the PLS Leaders podcast and other publications, PLS sustains this dialogue throughout the year rather than limiting it to a few days on the calendar. It is this continuity, from one edition to the next and far beyond the events themselves, that sets PLS apart from a traditional event platform.
PLS by the numbers
Since its creation in 2019, the annual PLS has become the largest gathering dedicated to primary care and front-line health in Canada. In 2026, it brought together 1,800 participants at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, with more than 130 speakers and nearly 200 exhibiting companies.
Every year, PLS brings together collectively more than 3, 000 healthcare stakeholders, nearly 200 speakers, 150 partners and hundreds of companies and organizations.
3 000
225
200 +
Our story
ORIGINS
It all begins in 2016 with the first Congrès des services de première ligne (CSPL), launched by the Association des cliniques médicales du Québec (ACMQ). But the idea and the initiative came from one person, Isabelle Girard, a trained nurse turned health entrepreneur and then executive director of the ACMQ.
EVOLUTION
In 2019, the association closes its doors, but the event carries on: the demand is real, and the momentum was undeniable. Isabelle took the reins and expanded its vision beyond medical clinics, bringing together the entire front-line and primary care ecosystem, from community pharmacies to professionals across disciplines. The event became Première Ligne en Santé.
Despite the pandemic, PLS continued to evolve. Major keynote speakers and an expanding program of panel discussions followed, gaining further momentum from 2022 onward. In 2023, as its English-speaking audience continued to grow, Première Ligne en Santé became PLS, reflecting an increasingly national reach.
In 2026, the PLS IMPACT Gala and strategic forums further expanded the platform.
TODAY
Today, PLS is the largest event in Canada dedicated to primary care and front-line health. With the ambition of becoming the largest in the world, PLS is charting its course toward a resolutely international reach.
Notre Équipe
Our team
President and Producer of PLS
A nurse by training and serial entrepreneur, Isabelle is the founder, creator and producer of PLS and the CEO of Productions Plakett, the company behind the PLS events. With an extensive network and a sharp grasp of healthcare issues, she brings a rare strategic vision and a knack for rallying decision-makers, professionals and industry around one shared goal: advancing primary and community-based care. Every day, she stays close to the field, attuned to the network's needs and shifts, and that proximity feeds the program.
Philippe Trudelle
Creative Directo
Philippe carries the creative vision of the event. Drawing on his years as a lead 3D animator, he shapes a cohesive, striking visual identity that runs through the entire program, from the stage to the digital tools, to capture and inspire every participant. He also steers the finances of Productions Plakett, a dual role where the discipline of numbers meets an eye for image. Every day, he makes sure each detail tells the same PLS story.
Production Director,
Nicolas orchestrates every logistical and technical aspect of the event, from the stage to registration, from build-out to digital tools. He coordinates teams and partners to deliver a polished experience worthy of PLS’s ambitions. Day to day, he’s the one who turns every idea and every project into concrete action, until everything is ready and working, without exception.
Houssam Bouacha
IT Director and software engineer
Houssam creates value through the organization's digital tools and leads the development of the PLS app. His technical rigour keeps every platform reliable, from the website to the participants' mobile experience. Every day, he turns the needs of the team and the field into concrete, scalable digital solutions.
Benoit Arbour
Growth and Development Advisor and Strategist
Benoit supports Isabelle and the team on the organization's major directions, from positioning to the business opportunities that raise the event's profile. Every day, he brings a sharp outside eye, challenging ideas and helping turn the ambitions of PLS into a concrete action plan.
Technical Director
Louis joins us as a consultant to orchestrate the entire audiovisual side of the event: technical partners, lighting, video capture and show calling. He leads a crew of several dozen technicians during the event, with top-tier experience built on major productions like Osheaga and Île Soniq. Every day, he works hand in hand with the creative and production teams to deliver a flawless technical experience.
Lighting designer
Pierre Roy creates the lighting that gives PLS its rhythm and atmosphere. Every stage, every panel and every highlight is designed to capture attention and showcase those who take the floor. Trained on the road with rock bands, then alongside artists like Lynda Lemay and Éric Lapointe, he lit the opening acts for the Rolling Stones and Van Halen. He brings to PLS the rigor of major productions and a rare ability to adapt. The result: a congress that feels like an experience, not just a series of conferences.
Christine Beaudoin
Official MC
Christine is the voice that sets the tone for the congress. From the opening plenary to the IMPACT PLS Gala, she commands the stage with a presence that brings the room together and sets the energy. For the past two years, she has also been the interviewer for the PLS Leaders Podcast, recorded live at the PLS congress in the Leaders’ Agora. Her gift: putting her guests at ease so they share the most inspiring things they have to offer. With her, PLS’s big ideas resonate well beyond the event.
External partner in charge of the concierge service
Trained at the ITHQ in Montréal, she spent more than ten years at Air Canada as a flight attendant and then as a service director, before turning to concierge services. At PLS, she coordinates logistics and communications and looks after the quality of the entire speaker journey, from the first contact to the moment they step on stage.
OUR APPROACH TO PARTNERSHIPS
Building Together
Every partnership starts with genuine listening: your goals, your message, the value you want to create. From there, we build a custom project together, designed to be meaningful, distinctive and grounded in measurable value.
Becoming a PLS partner means taking your place at the heart of Canada’s largest gathering in primary and front-line care, alongside the decision-makers shaping the future of the network. It means seeing change take shape as it happens and positioning your organization at the forefront, as a leader with a fresh perspective on what comes next.
Become a Partner
UPCOMING EVENTS | UPCOMING EVENTS | UPCOMING EVENTS | UPCOMING EVENTS | UPCOMING EVENTS | UPCOMING EVENTS
PLS 2027
Three days of conferences, workshops, networking and exhibits, Canada’s largest gathering in primary and front-line care, June 16 to 18, 2027 in Montréal, under the theme Act Together.
June 16 2027
Day reserved for partners and exhibitors, featuring Connect PLS, a B2B networking activity open to all
June 17 and 18 2027
Full program for decision-makers, clinicians, managers, researchers and entrepreneurs
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GALA IMPACT PLS
An elegant signature evening dedicated to innovation in primary care, front-line health and social services, held alongside PLS in Montréal. This is where the seven PLS Awards and the Tribute Award are presented, in a true show blending art, laughter and emotion, honouring the innovations transforming the network, one at a time.
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PLS Pharmacy Day 2027
A one-day event, by invitation only (no tickets for sale), entirely dedicated to community pharmacy. It brings together the whole ecosystem, pharmacists, managers and industry partners, around the issues specific to their practice: vaccination, oncology, scope of practice, interdisciplinarity. The 2027 edition takes place in September, date to be confirmed. No exhibit booths, but visibility partnerships are available.
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PLS–CEPSEM Healthy Aging Forums
Four half-day co-design and co-creation sessions, co-organized with CEPSEM, to roll out the solutions from the Rewriting Healthy Aging workshop held at PLS 2026 and facilitated by Roch Fortin: 732 ideas, about twenty of them selected as ready to act on now
The forums alternate between Montréal and Québec City, with confirmed participation from Santé Québec and the MSSS, and preliminary results will be presented at PLS in June 2027.
December 1er 2026 (Québec)
Reinvent the home support and residential care pathway, and turn living environments into levers for health
February 10 or 11, 2027 (Montréal)
Equip citizens and their loved ones
April 6 or 8, 2027 (Québec)
Anchor prevention in communities
October 15, 2026 (Montréal)
Engagement and Collaboration
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Discover How to Get Involved in the PLS Community
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