Has the Ford Government Invested Sufficiently in its COVID-response?

September 16, 2021

The Ford Government Spent $2.6-B Less than Planned in First Quarter

On September 15, the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) for Ontario released its latest report, stating that Premier Ford’s government has spent $2.6 billion less than planned during the fiscal first quarter (April 1, 2021 to June 30, 2021).

This independent report by the FAO states that, “in the health sector, the province did not spend any of the $2.7 billion COVID-19 Response transfer payment (from the federal government).” Clearly, these findings have raised concerns among critics about whether Doug Ford’s government has truly done all that it could have done to invest in its COVID-19 response.

A spokesperson for Ontario’s Health Minister Christine Elliot took issue with the concerns brought forward by the latest FAO report and said, “the FAO reports on spending as recorded in IFIS at a point in time, which does not necessarily reflect when services/goods were received, the spending plan for the entire fiscal year, or the spending position that will occur at the end of the fiscal year.”

However, when the FAO released its annual report back in mid-July, CBC reported at that time that the Ford government spent approximately $10 billion less than had been planned for the entire 2020-21 fiscal year. At that time, there was also much criticism of the Ford government for not investing those funds in more pandemic supports. This criticism seems well-founded, given Ontario’s relatively poor performance throughout the pandemic compared to other provinces. A Globe and Mail opinion piece from entitled, Doug Ford’s pandemic response has been the worst of Canada’s Premiers, noted that,

“nowhere else in Canada have children been out of school so long, have seniors been hit with two equally devastating waves, have outdoor activities been so restricted for months, have personal service workers been forced into such prolonged shutdown and have retailers and other businesses faced such extended restrictions. And in exchange for these sacrifices, the province can boast … average case numbers, and above-average deaths.”   

Investing in Testing to Keep Ontario’s Schools Open

NDP Education Critic Marit Stiles has certainly expressed concerns over insufficient investments in schools as part of the COVID-19 response of our provincial government.

And, despite claims by Ontario’s new chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore, that “there’s no additional value” to implementing asymptomatic rapid antigen testing at schools, given generally low community infection rates, many others are wondering if rapid testing could be the way forward.

Dr. Suvendrini Lena, a neurologist and the senior medical adviser to pandemic programs at Women’s College Hospital, and Michelle Joseph CEO of Unison Health and Community Services, wrote this September 14 opinion piece for the Toronto Star entitled, “How COVID-19 testing must be conducted to prevent school closures.” They summed up their position with these thoughts, “The bottom line is that we need surveillance testing in high-risk elementary public schools. In the 2020-21 school year, outbreaks and closures in Toronto were predominantly in racialized and low-income schools. These outbreaks caused fear and anxiety among students and parents and ultimately tipped the balance toward system closure. Supporting these schools with special measures will support the system as a whole.”

 

Investing in Ventilation and Standards to Keep Schools Open

Significant provincial funding has gone towards investing in improving ventilation in Ontario schools and classrooms.

However, even with upgrades and extra filters, a September 13 CBC piece examines the issue of ventilation inequity across Ontario’s classrooms. Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist, worries about the inequity in ventilation between classrooms and believes that air quality audits ought to have been done in every classroom in the province during the summer so that we had data from which to ensure an equitable approach to ventilation. 

“Some classrooms may have more than what they need. And many, of course, may not have what they need,” Furness said. For instance, if a HEPA filter is put in a classroom that is naturally ventilated and one filter is put in a mechanically-ventilated classroom, the ventilation in each of these classrooms clearly not the same. David Elfstrom, an Energy Engineer and school ventilation advocate, has been calling for a uniform air quality standard for all Ontario’s schools.

Fix Our Schools wholeheartedly supports Elfstrom’s call for standards and, in fact, has been calling for a standard of good repair since the 2018 provincial election. At that time, 58 newly elected MPPs had made a personal commitment to ensuring that a standard of good repair was developed for Ontario’s schools, and that funding would be provided to ensure that these standards could be met. Interested in seeing if your local MPP made this personal commitment by signing the Fix Our Schools Pledge? CLICK HERE

And if your local MPP did, indeed, make a personal commitment to developing a standard of good repair for schools (which would, of course, include a ventilation and indoor air quality standard) – then we encourage you to reach out to them to remind them of the ongoing need.