Ontario health unit merger is still a bad idea for the north, mayors say

Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario are asking the province to abandon a plan to merge health units in the province.

The plan, which was on the table before the pandemic hit, cuts the number of public health units in the province from 35 to 10, leaving just two for all of northern Ontario. 

While the plan is currently on pause, Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano says he worries the government will go ahead with the arrangement after the pandemic. He recently wrote a letter to Premier Doug Ford, asking him to abandon the idea altogether. It was also signed by the mayors of Timmins, Greater Sudbury, North Bay, and Thunder Bay.

"We don't want to see the public health capacity diminished at all. We often feel under-serviced in the north, and there's good reason for that," Provenzano said.

"I know that my relationship with Algoma public health has been really critical throughout this pandemic, and I've really appreciated the nature of the relationship and having access to Algoma Public Health.  And I think it would be much more difficult if there was just a northeast public health unit and a northwest public health unit."

He says the mayors are also concerned with another part of the proposed restructuring plan, which would see municipalities responsible for a larger share of local health unit funding.

"Municipal levies are stretched to begin with. The province cannot shift the responsibility to pay for public health to the municipalities, any greater than we already bear it. There are provincial programs that are funded through municipal levies," he said.

"If that ratio is increased, that is a property tax increase everywhere — commercial, industrial and residential. And it would impact all of the levies in northern Ontario. And that's a problem."

Provenzano notes that it's already difficult to provide core services within the current municipal levy.

"In northern Ontario we don't have the same assessment growth as you see in some areas of southern Ontario to absorb additional costs," he said.