Thread by @JohnTory

Today, the Board of Health and Toronto Public Health were advised the province would be slashing approximately $1 billion of funding over the next 10 years.

This change, hidden in the provincial budget and imposed without any consultation whatsoever, will hurt the health and wellness of Toronto residents.

The funding they are cutting goes towards keeping our water safe, our children vaccinated against deadly diseases, our restaurants clean, and our pets from getting rabies, along with many other programs dedicated to ensuring people are healthy

We understand from public health that this puts funding at risk for many programs including:
- 600+ school breakfast programs
- Daycare inspections to ensure the safety of children
- The detection of & response to new & emerging threats to public health such as SARS & H1N1

The Toronto Public Health budget has historically been funded by the province for a reason: these are programs which protect people's health and many programs which keep people out of hospitals and, ultimately, saves health care costs.

We understand that while the province will be changing the funding formula for all health units, Toronto in particular will see its funding further reduced this year and next year.

It is impossible not to see this as a targeted attack on the health of our entire city and, in particular, the health of Toronto's most vulnerable people.

It is inconceivable why the Ontario government would want to single out Toronto, Ontario's capital and economic engine, for harsher treatment when we know a healthy city is a prosperous city.

This is an incredibly serious funding change which puts our city's health at risk and will put lives at risk here in Toronto and across the province.

I will be working with Board of Health Chair @joe_cressy & Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. @epdevilla to continue to voice our strong opposition to this dramatic change in funding & the threat to the health & well-being of all residents.