Experts warn Ontario faces public health crisis due to funding cuts

In a press conference on Wednesday, November 26, representatives from three public health agencies from across Ontario warned of the impacts that cuts by Premier Doug Ford’s government could have on the province.

A rise in sexually transmitted diseases, the loss of Canada’s status as a nation that has eliminated measles, and an inability to adequately test provincial drinking water are all signs that Ontario’s public health system is under strain.

According to data shared by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), public health agencies in Ontario were receiving $62.19 per capita in 2024, $5 less than 2016 levels.

This lack of funding has led to things like a reduction in testing of provincial drinking water sources.

An Ontario Auditor General’s report released earlier this year found that a third of all Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks regulated non-municipal water systems have not been inspected in over five years.

“I was shocked because why are these things not being taken more seriously in the wake of Walkerton,” said Chris Eaton, Public Health Inspector for Lakelands Public Health. “I was not surprised because I’ve heard this from my colleagues at other health units how they have an inability to perform the necessary inspections of drinking water systems. They just don’t have the staffing to get to them.”

Drastic rise in sexually transmitted diseases

Sexually transmitted diseases in parts of Ontario have seen drastic increases from pre-pandemic levels.

The Sault and Algoma public health district saw a 1,685 per cent increase in cases of syphilis from 2910 to 2023. The Simcoe-Muskoka district saw cases of gonorrhea and chlamydia triple between 2017 and 2022 and the Windsor-Essex public health district saw a 15 per cent rise in chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis cases in a two-year period from 2022 to 2024.

Betty Wu-Lawrence, a sexual health nurse with Toronto Public Health said that the drastic rise in cases of sexually transmitted diseases was in part due to a reduction in screening and testing for these diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wu-Lawrence also attributed the rise due to a lack of preventative measures like public outreach and education.

She explained that she worried that these problems would worsen due to the budgetary constraints public health agencies are experiencing.

“There are language barriers, inadequate services for highly vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities, and amid all that we should be expanding sexual health services, not rolling up services,” she said.

“If I retire my position will likely be gone by attrition,” Wu-Lawrence added. “The absence of sexual health services would create a widespread negative impact on both population health and the economic functioning of Ontario.”

Loss of measles elimination status

Earlier this month, the Pan American Health Organization revoked Canada’s Measles Elimination status. The status is given to countries where cases of measles are so low, that it is effectively not present in the population.

There have been more than 5,000 cases of measles in Canada so far this year. As of November 25 there were more than 2,300 recorded cases of measles in Ontario.

Merima Kosteki, Public Health Inspector with Southeast Public Health attributed the rise in measles cases in Ontario in part to a lack of funding to public health agencies.

“When health units are funded properly, we see a quicker response. We can stop the spread of communicable disease through surveillance and prompt investigation of cases and context,” she said.

Kosteki called on the province to address gaps in public health funding now, for the sake of avoiding the future cost to the health of Ontarians and the provincial budget.

“Ontario’s public health system cannot adequately protect against preventable diseases,” she said. “So it’s really important to keep in mind that addressing funding gaps now, they need to be addressed now, not in the future. This will prevent future outbreaks. It will reduce healthcare costs, and it will safeguard the health of patients.”