Ontario is reported to caution that pharmacy groups, combating against the province, could look forward to boost their profits at the expense of consumers across the country.

Health Minister Deb Matthews reportedly posted a letter Tuesday to each and every provincial and territorial health minister, saying that once Ontario concludes its plan to reduce the cost of generic prescription drugs in half, pharmacies could seek to make large purchases at the new lower price and sell the drugs to consumers in other provinces at a raised price.

“While not explicitly illegal,” the letter posts, “such a practice is concerning and certainly has price implications for patients and provincial drug plans from coast to coast to coast.”

However, her letter, which insists that other provinces should scrutinize at Ontario’s planned alterations to the way generic drugs are priced, triggered a severe criticism from an industry spokeswoman.

The government is reported to seek to chop the cost of drugs by doing away with the professional allowances, known as rebates that drug chains accumulated from generic drug manufacturers in return for preserving their product.

The government has a belief that the rebates, with net worth of $815-million last year could result in inflation in the price of the generic prescriptions.