Progressive Conservative ratification of Ontario Health

Abstract

The ratification of Bill 74, titled “The People’s Health Care Act,” centralizes provincial responsibility for healthcare into a consolidated Ontario Health agency (Ontario Health), which contains a multitude of regional and provincial services. The objective of this essay is to elucidate how the consolidation of Ontario’s regional and provincial health services hinders positive progression. The centralization of health services fails to ameliorate the province’s complex and interconnected healthcare system. The current Progressive Conservative administration, under Premier Doug Ford, is critically analyzed according to dominant ideologies, theories, and methods. The essay seeks to contextualize and explain the decisions of the elected party with respect to apparent health reforms. Previous attempts to consolidate health care within Canada are also discussed, including an in-depth analysis of Ontario's Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs). Consequentially, the formation of the Ontario Health agency fails to advance the province in a meaningful and efficient way toward an interconnected healthcare system. The research for this essay was based on academic papers and on media sources. While acknowledging the need for reforms to Ontario’s healthcare system, the author opposes the ratification of Bill 74.