John Tory angered by cuts to Toronto Public Health

Members of Toronto city council, particularly Mayor John Tory, are upset about the Ontario government's cuts to Toronto Public Health. 

The province's decision to reduce it's portion of the public health cost-sharing formula from 75 per cent to 60 per cent for two years, and eventually down to 50 per cent by 2021, will leave the city with a significant budget shortfall, according to councillors.

While the province and city disagree about the ultimate financial impact of the cut, Tory said Saturday that the move was heavy handed. 

"Toronto is being singled out for more discriminatory treatment, in other words, harsher cuts than anywhere else in the province," Tory said.

"I'm deeply troubled by them because they take [away from] people that are the most vulnerable."

Impact on city services

With Toronto's 2019 budget having already been passed, councillors fear that the city will have to make its own cuts to essential services to maintain necessary funding for TPH. 

A spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott told CBC Toronto they're confident the city can streamline its administrative processes and find efficiencies to make up for lost provincial dollars.

"We have every expectation that public health programs in Toronto and across Ontario will continue to be properly funded," the spokesperson wrote in an email.

But Toronto budget chief Gary Crawford isn't convinced. The city previously contributed 25 per cent to its public health budget, he said, with the cuts having the potential to raise that to 45 per cent.

Crawford said the city's current budget can't sustain that.

"There's no extra money to take out other than to be cutting services," Crawford told CBC Toronto.

Both Tory and Crawford said they have been frustrated by a perceived lack of communication from the province on the matter. 

Tory said the first written letter from Queen's Park following its retroactive cuts on April 1 was received Friday afternoon. He said there haven't been any others discussions with the provincial government about how the cuts will affect the city.

Elliott's spokesperson, however, said the province first informed the city of its plans on April 15 and has had discussions since.

Crawford said all the city wants is to sit down with the government to discuss how to minimize the impact on Torontonians.

The city has written to Queen's Park in hopes of beginning those conversations, according to Tory.

Elliott's spokesperson said the ministry is looking forward to having further discussions through "technical working groups."

Sit down with us first. Don't phone us up a week after cuts have taken place.-Mayor John Tory

Tory said the city needs active communication with the government before they make decisions that affect residents.

"Sit down with us first. Don't phone us up a week after cuts have taken place ... and just inform us that that's what you've done," he said.

"This is not the right way to form a good partnership and to build a healthy prosperous city which is so important to the well-being of Ontario."