Health board takes a stand on health unit mergers

Peterborough County council has voted to take more time to consider how councillors feel about Peterborough Public Health’s position paper on the province’s plans to amalgamate health units.

The paper that was published in January highlights the board of health’s stance on Ontario’s plan for merging health units.

The board believes that a health unit with a population of 300,000 to 500,000, would be better for more rural areas rather than the one health unit per 1.5 million people that the province has alluded to.

“Different parts of the province are going to require different structures. There is a suite of activities that need to be kept at the local level,” medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said during council’s virtual meeting Wednesday morning.

Andy Mitchell, mayor of Selwyn Township and chair of the board of health, told council the COVID-19 pandemic is an illustration of how important local, smaller health units are.

Without them, things like drive-thru testing and in-house testing for COVID-19 wouldn’t exist.

However, council members had differing ideas about the paper.

While North Kawartha Deputy Mayor Jim Whelan supported Mitchell’s thoughts on the importance of local health units, he believes the province should pay for all of it, as opposed to a 70/30 split.

“The health of Ontario is the Ontario government’s responsibility. We’ve been letting this slide now for years, along with other things,” said Whelan. Cavan Monaghan Deputy Mayor Matthew Graham disagreed with Whelan’s comment.

“There’s more to lose than just paying more money. I would hate for the fiscal comment that is absolutely true and a real big part of our considerations, to be viewed as political criticism to the province, when we really need them to listen to the rural realities reflected in the report,” said Graham.

After a lengthy debate from council members, the motion to receive the presentation and accept the recommendation was tied and therefore lost.

Following the first vote, Mitchell told council he was disappointed.

Council members had another vote which was lost again.

However, a motion was then passed to defer the discussion until the next council meeting.