Career Opportunities in Canada

Based on the survey conducted by the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores (CACDS) and reported in February 2000, chain drug stores employ 6,240 full-time and 5,050 part-time pharmacists, with a current shortage of approximately 1,000 pharmacists in chain drug retailers.

Furthermore, it was reported from the 1999/2000 Eli Lilly Survey of Hospital Pharmacy in Canada that, as of March 2000, there were 150 vacant pharmacist positions in Canadian general-care hospitals with 100 beds or more, or roughly 10 percent out of a staff complement of 1408 pharmacists among reporting institutions. Excluded from these data were non-responses from "general" hospitals and among the special-care and small hospitals, which might be very conservatively estimated to another 150 positions, for a total of 300 vacancies in hospital pharmacist positions among Canada's more than 600 hospitals.

Combined information from hospital and chain drug store vacancy surveys revealed that roughly 10 percent of full or part time pharmacist positions in Canada were vacant early in the year 2000. Based on a total of roughly 24,000 practicing pharmacists in Canada, a 10 percent vacancy rate projected over all employers of pharmacists suggests that well over 2,000 additional pharmacists could readily find work in Canada. This study is being commissioned for further updates (Situational Analysis of Human Resource Issues in the Pharmacy Profession in Canada as proposed by the Canadian Pharmacists Association, May 2001).

Moreover, there is evidence of current shortage of pharmacists in Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada. Employment in Manitoba in 2005 is estimated at 1,055. The Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) likewise agrees that a shortage of pharmacists does exist in Canada today as it has for more than 20 years. Among the factors that contribute to pharmacist shortage include the proliferation of multinational stores and chains in urban centres, which operate for 24 hours and which provide employment opportunities for pharmacists thereby deterring pharmacists from providing services in rural or remote communities and loss of Canadian pharmacy graduates due to employment to major US pharmacy chains.

The current shortage of pharmacists affects both the retail and institutional (chiefly hospital) sectors. Given the growing evidence of drug-related complications, and the well-documented ability of pharmacists to anticipate and forestall many of these problems, pharmacists will be increasingly valued and demanded for their knowledge, skills, and cost-effective contribution to the health care system. Further, the drug requirements of an aging population, and the rapid development of new drugs, have increased the demand for qualified pharmacists. Their role has expanded to include counseling and advice in addition to dispensing. The expansion of Internet based pharmacies in southern Manitoba is also causing an increase in demand.

A proportionally larger number of jobs for pharmacists are located in Winnipeg, with the majority working in the Retail Trade sector (77%), followed by Health Care and Social Assistance (23%). For those working in the Health Care sector almost all work in a hospital setting. A small number are employed in nursing and residential care facilities.

As of January 2006, there are 29,471 licensed pharmacists and a total of 8,053 licensed pharmacies (community and in-patient hospital (National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities or NAPRA).