About Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act, 2019…
These are the speaking notes made to the Standing Committee on Social Policy on April 1st, 2019, and the brief I submitted.
You can read the recommendations I made about Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act, 2019, and its impact on health services in French.
Here are the main excerpts from my statement:
Bill 74, The People’s Health Care Act, 2019 (PHCA), if adopted, will impact how health services are planned, coordinated, funded and provided and will have major implications for French-language health services. Bill 74 creates Ontario Health, a single agency to operate and oversee services throughout the province and eliminates the 14 Local Health Integration Networks.
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In its preamble, Bill 74 outlines the obligation to respect the requirements of the French Language Services Act but provides little language on how this will be done. We would like to see this part of the bill amended to clarify that this requirement applies to the planning, design, delivery and evaluation of the French-language health services. We propose a detailed wording to that effect in our first recommendation, which would require unanimous consent from this Committee.
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What is not clear at this stage is the scope of responsibility of the Entities, and to whom they will be able to provide advice. Their voice must be equally heard at the local and at the provincial levels. Their role in the planning, design, delivery and evaluation stages is crucial. Section 44 of Bill 74 seems promising in terms of the relations between Entities and Ontario Health. But their role goes deeper as they need to be able to interact daily with the newly created Ontario Health Teams across the province. Our recommendation #6 propose a wording that would reiterate the importance of a solid regulation scheme to that effect.
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When Ontario Health Teams are established, and the integration of community health service providers within these teams takes place, the government will have to ensure that health services providers that are fully or partially designated under the French Language Services Act maintain the designation of these services. This obligation should be clearly specified in Bill 74 so that no French-language services are eliminated. This is crucial. Our recommendations #4 and #5 addresses these important issues.
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As in all transitions, the process of designating Ontario Health Teams and integrating service providers may also provide an opportunity to evaluate and vet the capacity of service providers to provide French language services. (…) It might be an opportune time to test the new designation process under the French Language Services Act that I have recommended ever since the Minister of Francophone Affairs, the Honourable Caroline Mulroney, took office.
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But before everything gels, much time will pass. Time can lead to uncertainty, and uncertainty to paralysis or worse. Therefore, we recommend a precise wording, in our recommendation #10, in Part V on Transfers. Our proposal calls for a clear regulation to set out the duties of the Agency, the integrated care delivery systems and health service providers for consulting with the French language health planning entities. While the Bill confirms that their voices will be heard at the provincial level, we strongly recommend that provisions be added to confirm the role of Entities at the local level, as well as their ability to guide the integration and coordination of services by Ontario Health Teams.
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As this reform unfolds, my office will continue to provide constructive advice and collaborate with the Ministry to ensure the best possible outcomes for the provision of improved French language health services in the province.