pharmaciens loi 15 has become the flashpoint in a tense negotiation between the provincial government and owner-pharmacists over new responsibilities and how pharmacies will be paid for them.
What Is the Current State of Play?
An amendment to the legislative package would give ministers the power to cap the fees that pharmacies can charge private insurers. That single change set off immediate reactions from owner-pharmacists and their association and interrupted talks on expanding pharmacy roles in first-line care.
- The Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires (AQPP) represents about 2, 000 pharmacies and stepped away from negotiations until the contested text is removed, Benoît Morin, president of the AQPP, said.
- Pharmacies have already shortened hours in some cases, closing at 6 p. m. instead of 8 p. m., as staff attend information sessions or react to the uncertainty, Geneviève Charbonneau, spokesperson for the AQPP, noted.
- The sector employs roughly 44, 000 people in Quebec; owners warn that limits on fees paid by private insurers were being used to cross-subsidize low public-sector reimbursement levels.
- Examples cited in the negotiation underline the gap in fees: a pharmacist fee of $11 in the public plan versus an average much higher fee billed to private insurers for select prescriptions, a disparity highlighted by association data.
What Happens Under Pharmaciens Loi 15?
The amendment in question was proposed by Alexandre Leduc, deputy of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. It would permit ministerial capping of fees charged to private insurers. That change collides with simultaneous efforts to broaden pharmacists’ scope of practice under another legislative project and ongoing labour and staffing concerns.
Owner-pharmacists framed the amendment as an existential threat to their business model. David Lapierre, owner-pharmacist at Familiprix Extra in Chicoutimi-Nord, said the measure removes predictability needed for investment and growth. Kevin Girard, a pharmacy owner with two locations, warned that the measure could force some service reductions or closures if compensation frameworks shift without guarantees.
On the government side, Jean Boulet, the minister of Labour, announced that the provision would be reviewed and that an amendment would be tabled to remove the contested passage. Sonia Bélanger, minister of Health, told interlocutors she had no intention of immediately filing a regulation tied to a fee cap, but that assurance did not relieve owners of their concerns about future governments exercising the power the amendment would create.
Benoît Morin, president of the AQPP, emphasized that high fees billed to private insurers have been part of the financial model that compensates for low public fees; capping one side of that equation without addressing the other threatens viability. At the same time, unions and public-sector employee groups pressed for measures to limit what they describe as excessive billing practices to ease pressure on collective drug plans.
What Should Stakeholders Do Next?
The immediate inflection is procedural: the government has said it will revisit the text and remove the contested clause, opening the door for resuming negotiation. For owner-pharmacists, the priority is clarity on how expanded responsibilities will be funded; the AQPP has made its return to talks conditional on the removal of the fee-cap provision, Benoît Morin stated.
Practically, pharmacies may need to review service offerings, hours and investment plans while clarity is restored, as cautioned by Geneviève Charbonneau and David Lapierre. For the government and legislators, sequencing matters: advancing scope-of-practice reforms while inserting a unilateral fee-control power into law produced the rupture seen in these talks. Unions and employers pressing opposite incentives will keep the debate focused on balance between cost control and sustainable compensation.
Expect negotiations to resume only after the legislative text is corrected and stakeholders receive explicit, durable commitments about compensation and regulatory intent. All parties should prepare contingency plans to protect access to pharmacy services while the political and negotiation process unfolds, with attention to workforce limits and service continuity in the interim pharmaciens loi 15
