Petition: Stop the Cuts to Public Health!
In 2019, Doug Ford announced big cuts to Toronto Public Health. Weeks after his announcement, in response to the public pressure Progress Toronto and thousands helped create, Ford reduced his cuts and committed to one-time funding to fill some of the gap his own cuts created. But there are still millions of cuts to Public Health.
In 2020, Ford’s Public Health cut to Toronto was $4.5 million and, once one-time funding dries up, Ford will be cutting $14.1 million from Toronto Public Health. These cuts could mean big cuts to Toronto’s Infectious Diseases Programs and other programs.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) global pandemic, shows how critical Public Health investments are. Use our petition to send a message today and tell Ford to stop the Public Health cuts.
We’ve made a round-up about the cuts for you! Scroll down to read more.
Background:
In April 2019, Doug Ford announced his plans to cut $1 billion from Toronto Public Health over 10 years [1]. This cut put at risk critical, life-saving Public Health programs across the city, including many infectious disease programs. You can see a full list of programs threatened by visiting Toronto Public Health’s website here.
In response to Ford’s cuts, Progress Toronto acted fast. We helped make it easy for over 16,000 people to take action and tell Ford to stop the cuts. Over 11,000 sent messages directly to their Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) and Doug Ford by email. And! More than 5,000 people were patched through by phone to conservative MPPs’ offices.
Thanks to thousands taking action, we had a big win in 2019. Doug Ford backed off some of his cuts and announced one time funding for Toronto’s 2020 Budget.
Doug Ford is still cutting $14.1 million from Toronto Public Health
In August 2019, Doug Ford announced more cuts to Public Health Services across Ontario [2]. Many public health programs in Toronto receiving 100% funding from the Province were cut to 70% funding. This created a $14.1 million annual cut to Public Health in Toronto alone - and even more province-wide [3].
Doug Ford’s funding cuts and cost-sharing changes have remained in place. He has provided some one-time funding to Toronto for 2020 - but not enough.
In 2020, Ford cut $4.5 million from Toronto Public Health [3].
On March 12, 2020, the Ford Government announced how they are responding to the COVID-19 global pandemic [4].
Irresponsibly, the announcement reinforced that Ford remains committed to his Public Health Cuts. In 2021, Toronto Public Health will again be cut $4.5 million by Doug Ford. And worse, the Ford government has recommitted to cutting $14.1 million dollars from Toronto Public Health in 2022.
Ford is undoing lessons learned from the 2003 SARS crisis
It was following the lessons learned by the SARS crisis that the Provincial Government increased Public Health funding to municipalities across Ontario [5]. Despite those lessons, and despite the fact that we are facing a global pandemic with COVID-19, Doug Ford is still making irresponsible cuts to Public Health across Ontario.
Ford’s Public Health cuts mean cuts to many of Toronto Public Health’s Programs:
Infectious Disease Control Initiative
“The program establishes and maintains open and effective communication channels with Toronto's Acute Care Hospitals, Complex Continuing Care and Rehabilitation Hospitals, as well as Long-Term Care Homes and Retirement Home affiliated with a Toronto hospital. The program focuses on infection prevention and control, the management and control of diseases of public health significance, and other emerging infectious disease of public health importance.” Toronto Public Health May 2019 [6]
Infectious & Communicable Diseases Prevention and Control Program
“...goal is to reduce the burden of communicable diseases and other infectious diseases of public health significance. It involves communicable disease surveillance which is the systematic ongoing collection, collation, and analysis of data related to communicable diseases of public health interest in Toronto. It relies on the timely dissemination of information to internal and external stakeholders to inform public health actions.” Toronto Public Health May 2019 [6]
Immunization Programs
The goal of this program “is to reduce or eliminate the burden of vaccine preventable diseases through immunization” and includes outbreak monitoring, school vaccination programs, and more. Toronto Public Health May 2019 [6]
Doug Ford’s Cuts to Public Health mean many programs are put at risk
Doug Ford’s cuts put at risk many infectious diseases programs and much more across the city, including:
Over 600 Student Nutrition (school breakfast programs)
Restaurant inspection programs (Dine Safe Toronto)
Dental clinics and programs that identify dental disease in students
Sexual health clinics
Clinics that prevent the spread of diseases (like measles and hepatitis)
Outbreak management in care facilities like our long term care homes
Emergency preparation and response to life-threatening outbreaks and hazards (like chemical spills) and detection and response to public health threats (like COVID-19, SARS and H1N1)
Daycare safety inspections
Diabetes prevention
Prenatal programs
Preschool speech and language programs as well as infant hearing loss programs
Bed bug identification and prevention
Inspection of pools, beaches, and water quality testing
You can see a full list of programs threatened by visiting Toronto Public Health’s website here
Take Action:
We all need to stand up and fight for the health of our city. Use our petition to send an email (that you can edit) directly to your MPP, the Minister of Health, and Doug Ford. They will feel the pressure right away. And we need them to! We need to flood them with opposition immediately.
Sources:
[1] Mayor John Tory’s April 18, 2019 Statement on provincial funding cuts to Toronto Public Health
https://twitter.com/JohnTory/status/1119003649546567682
[2] August 19, 2019 Global News: Doug Ford to move ahead with Ontario municipal funding cuts in 2020
https://globalnews.ca/news/5782431/ontario-municipal-funding-cuts/
[3] Toronto Public Health 2020 Operating Budget Request:
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ex/bgrd/backgroundfile-145829.pdf
[4] March 12, 2020, Ministry of Health News Release - Province Implementing Enhanced Measures to Protect Ontarians from COVID-19
https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2020/03/province-implementing-enhanced-measures-to-protect-ontarians-from-covid-19.html
[5] April 15 2019 CBC Article: Clinicians, health advocates ringing alarms about province's 'short-sighted' cuts to public health
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/clinicians-health-advocates-ringing-alarms-about-province-s-short-sighted-cuts-to-public-health-1.5098936
[6] May 2019 document from Toronto Public Health on the Ministry of Health funded programs in toronto
https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2019/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-133065.pdf