Justice Price of the Superior Court of Justice has found that the City of Guelph’s issues with the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health should have been addressed by an assessor appointed by Ontario’s Minister of Health and Long-Term Care.
Justice Price noted that changes to provincial legislation in 1997 and 2001 removed the right of any of the three municipalities to withdraw from the Health Unit, stating in his decision, “I find that the City does not possess the power either to withdraw unilaterally from the Board or to veto the Board’s decisions, even when they have the effect of imposing significant financial obligations on the City.”
In his decision, Justice Price states that the Health Protection and Promotion Act, which governs public health in the province, provides an assessment process and requires the Minister to appoint an assessor. Mayor Farbridge requested the Minister to appoint an assessor on April 26, 2011, and the Minister responded on May 16, 2011, declining to appoint one. However, as Justice Price’s ruling notes, the Act provides that it is an assessor, and not the Minister, who must decide whether the complaint warrants investigation and, if it does, who must conduct an investigation and report to the Minister.
“The City’s position has not changed: we need a Provincially-appointed assessor to investigate the issues we have identified. In light of this court decision, we will repeat our request to the Government of Ontario,” said Mayor Karen Farbridge.
In his decision, Justice Price comments on the current governance structure for public health, saying, “The shift from decision-making by directly elected representatives on city councils to boards made up of their delegates, especially, as in the present case, where the delegates of two municipalities can out-number those of another, has the potential of diminishing the public’s engagement in self-government and undermining the quality of public decision-making.” He goes on to note that “the guidelines which the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care have issued for boards of health to follow wisely provide for consultation and collaboration as a means of preventing the disempowerment of municipal councils and local agencies in relation to the decisions affecting their constituents. The effectiveness of this safeguard depends on the quality of ministerial supervision and the remedy of judicial review.”
Justice Price stated that the Board must be transparent in providing the necessary information to the municipalities to enable them to assess the reasonableness of the expenses and, if necessary, to challenge the Board’s decision in the courts.
Mayor Farbridge noted, “While we did not get the decision we were hoping for, Justice Price clearly acknowledged the overarching governance issues in his decision. The City has always maintained that the governance model is flawed and needs to change. With the support of this decision, we will pursue assistance from the Ministry.”