Public health restructuring would be bad for region, councillors warn
WATERLOO REGION — Regional councillors are opposed to a proposal that would radically change the way public health is delivered in Ontario.
In July, the Ministry of Health released a report from an expert panel that recommended replacing the province’s 36 public health units with 14 new free-standing boards of health.
The province is asking for feedback by the end of October. Regional councillors voted Tuesday against the proposed changes.
“I think it’s a backwards step,” said regional Chair Ken Seiling. “At the end of the day it’s the people of our community who will suffer if this proceeds. I’m very much opposed to this.”
Because Waterloo Region Public Health is part of the regional government, it works very closely with other regional services, including social services, child care, affordable housing, water supply, transit, planning and policing, said Anne Schlorff, the region’s acting commissioner of Public Health.
That integration allows the health unit to work together with other regional departments to promote health in areas such as water quality and nutrition, or implementing things like tobacco bylaws.
“They’re at the same table all the time, so they plan together and they work together,” Seiling said.
The current system is working well in Waterloo Region and there’s no evidence that creating a new system would improve public health in our area, Schlorff said.
As well, Waterloo Region Public Health saves money because it is able to use the region’s corporate services such as human resources, finance and information technology.
Creating larger regional health units could also mean less money is spent locally on public health, Seiling said.
The region would contribute the lion’s share of funding for the new body, he said, but “that money would flow to fund programs right across the whole area. We’d be using property tax dollars to fund programs outside of the region. It could diminish the funding of public health in the region.”
The Association of Municipalities of Ontario also opposes the proposed changes.