Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas, the opposition health critic, wants to make Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) an independent officer of the legislature. Ontario is the only province where the CMOH is accountable to both the Minister of Health and the Legislative Assembly, said a Gélinas news release.
Gélinas introduced a private members' bill seeking the change on Wednesday. It is called the Public Health Accountability Act, in Honour of Dr. Sheela Basrur, Bill 227, an Act to amend the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
Gélinas said the bill would accomplish two things; one is to make the CMOH an independent officer of the legislature and secondly to create a select committee of the legislature to hear directly from the CMOH and allow that person to answer questions from those MPPs.
Gélinas said it was important for MPPs to be able to speak to the chief public health officer on urgent health-related matters.
“Ontarians deserve to hear directly from provincial public health officials without any political interference. COVID-19 has shown us how important it is for public health officials to have the ability to speak out publicly when necessary,” Gélinas said in a news release.
She added the bill is named in honour of Dr. Sheela Basrur, who was a medical officer of health during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) crisis and later became Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.
“Dr. Basrur showed us how important it was to have clear communication and transparent information during a public health crisis,” said Gélinas.
Gélinas commented that in 2020 citizens are becoming overwhelmed with numerous competing statements with regard to the pandemic response.
"In the age of false news and misinformation, people need trusted sources of information during an emergency," she said.
