Northeastern public health officials 'hungry' for details on provincial overhaul

Public health officials in northeastern Ontario say changes announced by the provincial government in last week's budget will likely mean job cuts.

The Progressive Conservative government plans to reduce public health spending by $200 million per year by 2021, while collapsing Ontario's 35 public health units into 10 new regional agencies.

Few details have been released, but the Ford government has been clear this will be done without affecting frontline services.

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, the chief medical officer of health for Sudbury and Manitoulin, says she is "hungry" for more specifics on the province's plans.

"I do think that how we do those programs, how we deliver, how the public experiences those programs, with that level of cut, will have to change," says Sutcliffe.

She says public health officials are already "grieving" this proposed "massive change" that will see an end to longstanding community organizations.

Sutcliffe says Public Health Sudbury and Districts, which has 250 employees and a $28 million annual budget, has instituted a hiring freeze and a stop on non-essential spending until the future is clearer.

She says merging health units could save money, but could also endanger the local connection of public health agencies, which get about one third of their funding from municipalities.

"It seems to be a quick assumption that it would reduce costs, but I don't know," says Sutcliffe.

"I do think that there is probably a healthy tension or a fine balance between having things centralized and regionalized, and having things local."

One of the smallest health units in the province is Temiskaming, where 60 employees work on a $4 million budget.

Temiskaming Shores Mayor Carman Kidd, who also chairs the board of health, says communities in the area expect to keep getting their money's worth after the provincial cuts come through. 

"There's been no information, no idea what their plans are," says Kidd.

"The provincial government is still saying they're not going to reduce any frontline services, so I'm going to hold them to their word there."