Barrette reneged on agreement, say Quebec pharmacists
The Quebec Association of Pharmacy Owners (AQPP) accused provincial health minister Gaétan Barrette of refusing to negotiate in good faith with pharmacy owners after a tentative agreement between the two sides, signed in June, ended Monday.
At a news conference, former Quebec premier Lucien Bouchard, now chief negotiator for AQPP, said the government missed an opportunity because of a bias: Barrette does not like pharmacists.
“We have spared no effort to reach a negotiated solution,” Bouchard said. “We have tabled several proposals that would . . . review the compensation model for pharmacists. We even proposed a model with the abandonment of professional allowances.”
Bouchard said negotiations have hit an impasse and are now headed for arbitration.
“We’ll fight in court,” he said. “(Barrette) will have to testify and answer questions about why he reneged on his signature and things like that. It won’t be nice for anybody.”
The AQPP also accused Barrette of not abiding by an agreement reached in June 2015, which would have seen pharmacists sell part of their income in exchange for uncapping allowances they receive from pharmaceutical companies on drug purchases.
Jean Thiffault, president of the AQPP, said the government has a false impression of the pharmacy sector in Quebec.
“A long time ago, 12 or 15 years ago, some pharmacists made a lot of money. It was a phase. (Barrette) heard some of those examples, which is not the case (today). He doesn’t believe any numbers we show him.
“But the thing is the business changed quite a bit,” Thiffault said.“We lost 1,000 jobs in the last six months. Part-time and fulltime jobs. It’s a lot.”
Asked if there was bad blood between the minister and pharmacists, Bouchard said: “First of all, there is absolutely no way to avoid the conclusion that in a very flagrant way (Barrette) reneged on his signature. It’s obvious.”
Bouchard went so far as to say the minister has an axe to grind with pharmacists.
“The other aspect is that it’s obvious he doesn’t like the pharmacists. He doesn’t like them. He never avoids an occasion to humiliate them. You heard what he said in the National Assembly (about) the plat de bonbon. He compared remuneration to a candy pot. That’s what he thinks of them, that they are making tons of money, that they don’t deserve it.
“And he doesn’t treat them as a partner with whom he could sit down to work out solutions,” Bouchard said.