Loblaws sees great opportunity in demise of Independent Pharmacy

We are down to the last week of consultation on government legislation that will change our profession forever. Despite a few hiccups at the start, it is starting to feel like the tide has turned in our favour. Once we are able to cut through all of the government spin, our patients realize what the real impact of the legislation may be. Even Liberal MPP’s seem to be starting to get the message and are at least appearing sympathetic rather than trying to remember the talking points provided to them by the Minister of Health.

Then along comes Loblaws...

In a release today, they told the world that they see great opportunity in this legislation and will be expanding their pharmacy network, hoping to scoop up business from failed independent pharmacies.

This confirms my view that grocery store pharmacies are the scum of the Earth. They even confirm that they are leeches on the profession, hoping to suck the life out of the independent pharmacies that have made our profession what it is today. The pharmacists in these operations answer to grocery clerks turned managers who don’t see the difference between dispensing methadone and selling banana’s. They devalue our profession to the point where we are just a loss-leader there to get people into the store under the premise of purchasing cheap drugs while they rob them blind on their produce purchases. Why we ever let these parasites latch onto our profession is beyond me.

Even Deb Matthews weighed in on their announcement- saying that there is a “good future for people in pharmacy.” Really Deb?? Were you not the person who said that your bill was about taking on the big corporations? In Canada, corporations don’t get much bigger than Loblaws. Is it really good to have highly trained professionals competing with high school kids for the Employee of the Month title? Nothing says “I am a professional “ like standing in the middle of a grocery store talking about hemorrhoids while the butcher chops up a dead cow twenty feet away.

I hope there are enough self-respecting pharmacists that will stand up to these dirt bags and thank them for their support of our profession by refusing to work in their new “pharmacies.” Personally, I would never lower myself to practice in one of those dumps, even if they were the last pharmacy on Earth.

Maybe I’m giving these morons too much credibility. Grocery retailers really aren’t a force in pharmacy and probably never will be. The fight we face now is for the very survival of our profession. We need to remain strong and united as a profession against these cuts. If anything, this announcement from Loblaws should only strengthen our resolve. They have stated what they see as our future- kind of makes me want to take some action to make sure it never happens.