Given the uproar surrounding Dr. Pete Sarsfield’s determination to take district businesses to court—using taxpayers’ money—to force them to comply with his ban on smoking in all enclosed public places, this isn’t the best time for the Northwestern Health Unit to be going to district municipalities seeking a five percent increase in its per capita levy.
But while criticism of how the health unit is tossing around public funds to wage its war against second-hand smoke is valid, the truth is the provincial government has hung it out to dry—and it’s local taxpayers who are left holding the bag.
The health unit is mandated, by the province, to provide certain programs and services. The trouble is, Queen’s Park—embroiled in its own tussle along with the other provinces against the federal government over health care dollars—isn’t coming through with the necessary money.
In fact, according to its own board of directors, the health unit originally was looking for an extra $1.1 million from Kenora-Rainy River municipalities it said was needed to deliver mandated services—a far cry from the $187,000 it wound up settling upon by seeking a five percent hike in its per capita levy over last year.
Still, it sent a clear message of the gap between what the province wants and what it is willing to pay for out of its own coffers. It’s also very clear it’s up to district municipalities, like Fort Frances, to lobby Queen’s Park for more money, starting with grants to cover the unincorporated areas in Northwestern Ontario.
It would be money well spent. After all, the whole purpose of the preventive aspect of public health is to reduce health care spending on treatment down the road.
It’s time for the province to take that message to heart.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
