Governments that ignore this mantra do so at their peril. Associations would also do well to keep this in mind. In one province, where pharmacists are reeling from the cumulative toll of government cutbacks, the provincial association ran a couple of newspaper ads, but only in one city. The association attributed its decision to a lack of funds. The amount of money may be relatively insignificant, but the optics leave much to be desired.
Associations can be careless with their credibility.
As the BCPhA found with reference-based pricing, and Ontario with tobacco, if you're going to publicly predict the sky will fall, you'd better make sure it does. Associations that cry wolf will be ignored when the wolf really does start eating the sheep. While the revitalization of pharmacy at the grassroots level is encouraging, the devolution of provincial responsiblities to local associations is not without some risks. Every time government produces legislation that affects pharmacy, you need a program to keep track of the different pharmacy groups that will pop up. Needless to say, this lack of cohesion plays into the hands of government.