Ontario: Ontario Public Health Units are calling on the government to end the one-time funding process to meet the gap four years ago and provide them with a steady source of money.
These units say that this demand is also being made by them because there was a backlog of services during the Covid-19 epidemic.
It was announced in 2019 by Premier Doug Ford’s government that it was cutting the provincial share for public health funding. It was moved from a 75:25 cost sharing ratio with municipalities to 70% from the province and 30% from municipalities.
Due to the outcry in this regard, Ford withdrew these cuts within a year and offered less funds to help local governments on the basis of the new formula. These low funds were said to be temporary but they continue till 2023.
Now the Association of Local Public Health Agencies is demanding from the government that the budget to be presented in March should be provided again at the pre-pandemic level.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Sylvia Jones said that the money given to public health units shows that 75 percent of the contribution is being made by the province. He also said that our government will continue to invest in public health.