Again, we are talking about different people and different things. What you are talking about (weekend MBA, MBA without management or leadership experience) is fine for non-competitive schools. Even the most competitive programs in Canada are fairly weak and are not that tough to get in. Getting MBA from that school to go into management in the industry you have experience in is fine; in the end of the day it's just a piece of paper that is part of "yeah, he has it" formality.
What I was talking about is Top of the Top MBA programs. For example, I had 0/7 interviews when I applied to competitive schools with my software engineer profile. I got myself a mentor and we went over my profile. Following that, I left a large and awesome company and joined early stage startup where I took a lead role. That allowed me to have a leadership experience that I utilized during motivation letter stage. I got 5/7 interviews (Harvard and Wharton passed on me). During the interview stage, EVERY QUESTION was about that experience. No one cared about the rest. Why do people go to those schools? To get into a super competitive field; investment banking, portfolio management. Can one graduate from weekend Canadian MBA and get into those fields? 0 chance. Can one graduate from Rotman and get into those programs? Possible but not in the States; maybe in Canada (MAYBE). OP would not stand a chance on getting an interview for a top program and he would have low chances to go into IB with his Canadian MBA; but that's irrelevant because OP doesn't want that. He wants to go back into pharm industry and a piece of paper will help him (in yours and his opinion).
In regards to intelligent people; MBA is not academically rigorous program. As a matter of fact, it's super easy to graduate from MBA. The trick is to get in. If you want to meet intelligent people, go to meetups; no point in spending a lot of money on a degree.