At the beginning of 2023, Ontario officially moved forward with a plan to allow pharmacists to prescribe medicine for common ailments like hay fever, cold sores and acid reflux.
A new system ushered in by the Ford government paid pharmacists a $19 assessment fee for each consultation and gave them powers to make decisions on a total of 13 minor medical issues.
A few months later, Health Minister Sylvia Jones met with Jeff Leger, the then-president of Shoppers Drug Mart.
An internal briefing note obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws shows Jones’ staff thought the purpose of the meeting was to discuss “shared solutions to enhance the provincial primary care system.”
It’s unclear exactly what was talked about, but the two sides appear to have different memories.
A spokesperson for Loblaw, which owns Shoppers Drug Mart, told Global News the meeting was a “discussion focused on the pharmacy redesign and sharing some of our clinic experiences in other provinces.”
The government, however, indicated in response to questions from Global News that the meeting was requested by Shoppers to talk about its experience in the months since Ontario had allowed pharmacists to prescribe for minor ailments.
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The documents written to brief Jones before the meeting show her staff expected Shoppers to ask if pharmacist powers could be expanded further.
At the time, the government was already preparing to add a further six minor ailments to the list, a move put in motion by October of 2023.
The briefing suggested Jones should tell Shoppers Drug Mart to share feedback on changes to prescription powers with the Ontario College of Pharmacists.
If Leger asked to expand pharmacists’ scope even further, Jones’s briefing notes suggested she indicate the government would entertain the idea.
“The ministry is open to working with the pharmacy sector to develop optimization strategies to make the best use of pharmacy professionals to allow patients to have more timelier, accessible experiences with the health system,” Jones’ notes say.
The document cautioned that any changes to expand scope would also have to involve consultations with the Ontario Medical Association, which has raised repeated concerns about the expansion.
Loblaws emphasized that the meeting with Jones came half a year after the government expanded pharmacists’ powers. It said the meeting was the most recent time the Shoppers president and Jones had met.
In July 2024, roughly a year after the sit-down, Ontario announced it would begin consultations on adding another 14 minor ailments to the list from which pharmacists could prescribe, including shingles and insomnia.
It directed the Ontario College of Pharmacists to develop regulatory changes to bring those updates in around September 2025.
A spokesperson for Jones told Global News the expansion had been a success following its introduction in 2023.
“Since we introduced these changes, over 2 million people have accessed care for a minor ailment at their local pharmacy,” they said.
Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman, president of the Ontario Medical Association, said her organization was concerned with how the powers were being rolled out — and what they could mean for patient care.
“It’s important to have pharmacists and other health care professionals involved in care. And that’s not something that any of us will argue about,” she told Global News, suggesting pharmacists should work with doctors instead of separately.
“Physicians are willing to collaborate on innovative solutions to improve access, but not at the expense of the patient’s health outcomes or trust in the health-care system due to this fragmentation and lack of oversight,” she added.
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.