Earning potential in Canada

[RyanMaverick]

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Hello,

I was recently accepted to UBC for the 2010 class. I was curious what type of salary can be expected in the following settings in BC:

Retail big city BC
Retail small northern city (usually pay more, high demand) BC
Hospital big city BC
Hospital small " BC.

Thank you

 

[RyanMaverick]

A quick addition:

For recent graduates, what type of packages are the big chain stores (Safeway, Walmart, etc) offering to students who sign contracts to work X number of years? Surely there must be a recent grad with some info on this.

Thank you again.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

In Canada they make slightly more than half of US pharmacists. Owning an independent pharmacy is much more profitable than in the US though, or so I'm told.

 

[Requiem]

In Canada they make slightly more than half of US pharmacists. Owning an independent pharmacy is much more profitable than in the US though, or so I'm told.

Hey now, voopharm; get yer facts straight ya hear!

Canadian pharmacists can pull down 80-100K. ~120/130K (+bonuses) in huge demand areas, ~75k in saturated low demand areas. There's really little difference, except we don't have Bush. Speaking of bush:

Whats the difference between a gynecologist and a geniologist?

A geniologist spends his time looking up the family tree, a gynecologist spends his time looking up the family bush.

 

[MD2b20004]

Hey now, voopharm; get yer facts straight ya hear!

Canadian pharmacists can pull down 80-100K. ~120/130K (+bonuses) in huge demand areas, ~75k in saturated low demand areas. There's really little difference, except we don't have Bush. Speaking of bush:

Whats the difference between a gynecologist and a geniologist?

A geniologist spends his time looking up the family tree, a gynecologist spends his time looking up the family bush.

Is that 80-100K US dollars or Canadian lower dollars?

 

[Requiem]

Is that 80-100K US dollars or Canadian lower dollars?

Those salaries I mentioned were in Canadian dollars, but there's very little difference as of late; a difference that could surely be made up for with a demand area (every province has a demand in certain areas), or a bit of OT.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I was told the average was $70k Canadian by a Canadian pharmacist while I was in Toronto. With exchange rates, that's about 62-ish, hence a little more than half of what US RPHs make. Where are the high demand areas in Canada, anyway? Obviously not the Big T..or that pharmacist was underpaid...

 

[Requiem]

I was told the average was $70k Canadian by a Canadian pharmacist while I was in Toronto. With exchange rates, that's about 62-ish, hence a little more than half of what US RPHs make. Where are the high demand areas in Canada, anyway? Obviously not the Big T..or that pharmacist was underpaid...

There are a lot, every province will have huge in demand areas. Within ontario, almost all of Northern Ontario (some very nice suburbs and medium size towns) is in demand with salaries of 100k or so, that's what some of the recent (06) grads were offered. Even in newfoundland there were a few positions like 120K for 3 years, they'll give you a house + car while youre there etc. The trade off is sometimes it's a crappy place, but Northern ontario is a nice area.

Toronto isn't in demand, nor is any major Canadian city really. I mean you won't hear about Calgary or Vancouver screaming out in demand because of the sheer population size, but there are areas outside the cities which need R Ph's. As well, chains along with independents differ quite substantially sometimes in their wages or compensation packages.

Shoppers has a really good, advanced system on the go. Very, very pharmacist friendly. From every phone call getting filtered (i.e refills press 1, docs press 2 and they record msgs) to yearly 4 day conventions in a major city with food + hotel covered for CE credits, huge pharmacies with very modern layout (pharmacist is often 20 feet away from patients and on a separate "island" within the pharmacy), every one has a conselling room / spread out drop off / pick up boxes which is where the techs are located so you never do it. They also have a "scanning" system whereby you don't have to write out DIN's to check, you just scan the drug bottle etc (ie you type up a prescription, scan the bottle and if its wrong the label won't print) and it's very efficient and pharm friendly.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

The only way I'd live in Canada is if it was Toronto. Way too cool of a city. First time I was ever there I never needed directions because that giant freakin' tower was like the North star ever pointing me in the right direction.