WHEREAS Ontario public health units and agencies provide a vital service to Ontarians that keeps people healthy, out of hospitals and out of the acute care syst

WHEREAS Ontario public health units and agencies provide a vital service to Ontarians that keeps people healthy, out of hospitals and out of the acute care system; WHEREAS rural-urban equity in Ontario’s public healthcare delivery is essential for a thriving provincial economy that keeps people at work and contributing; WHEREAS Ontario’s public health units & agencies sector has received a mere 1% in its annual budget increase from Queen’s Park since 2018, a sum significantly below inflation and real-world cost increases; WHEREAS public health faces steadily increasing demands, such as a 231% increase in respiratory outbreaks supported in Ontario's long-term care homes, hospitals, and retirement homes since 2018, as well as a 637% increase in Infection Prevention & Control complaints follow-ups; WHEREAS according to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), municipalities across Ontario spend close to $4 billion on health despite receiving less than $2 billion in provincial grants, and Canada’s Constitution Act 1867 clearly asserts provincial responsibility for health; WHEREAS Ontario consistently ranks at the bottom for provincial health spending per capita, at $876 below the average of other provinces using 2022-2023 data; WHEREAS 60% of Ontario’s hospitals are overwhelmed and in dire operating deficits, yet the Canadian Public Health Association asserts that investment in Ontario public health’s preventative and health promotion initiatives delivers a 4:1 return on investment, for example, for every dollar spent on upstream public health vaccine immunization of children, $16 in downstream hospital and primary health care costs are saved; WHEREAS municipalities are being asked to shoulder an escalating percentage of public health unit costs while also asked to solve complex social determinates of health such as rural homelessness and food insecurity but with limited revenue tools; WHEREAS the province and federal governments continue to collect significa