The Association of Municipalities of Ontario event is the province’s biggest gathering of elected officials
This week, we were pleased to join municipal leaders in Ottawa at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference, the province’s largest gathering of elected officials, to educate on and promote health-care advocacy.
This year’s conference brought together more than 3,500 delegates, including provincial MPPs from all political stripes, cabinet ministers, senior political staff and representatives from all 444 municipalities across Ontario. This offered a valuable opportunity to build relationships and engage with stakeholders on issues that matter to Ontarians.
“We’ve had the opportunity with so many municipalities hearing about their issues in terms of health care, specifically what they’re doing to help recruit and retain physicians due to the huge physician shortages they’re experiencing,” OMA President Dr. Zainab Abdurrahman said in a video this week.
Here are three key takeaways from this year’s event:
Over the course of two days, Dr. Abdurrahman and our CEO Kimberly Moran met with representatives across Ontario to learn more about the unique health-care challenges they face and the creative, community-driven solutions being implemented. A consistent theme emerged: physician recruitment and retention, especially in northern and rural areas. This remains a major health-care hurdle and is an important point of advocacy for us.
We also sat down with political staff, including senior staff from the premier’s office, to discuss a wide range of issues and what they can expect from the OMA when the legislature resumes in the fall.
As part of our participation, we hosted a breakfast symposium featuring a keynote address by Dr. Abdurrahman. She focused on the urgent need for more family doctors amid a province-wide physician shortage, and highlighted the progress we’ve made to date in working with the provincial government to address this crisis. She also highlighted how it’s important for municipal leaders to collaborate with local physicians in their community on health-care solutions.
Dr. Abdurrahman’s address was well-received and one of the most attended events at the conference. During a Q-and-A session, mayors and councillors from across the province made it clear how they valued the advice and tips we provided on partnering with local physicians to ensure increased access to family doctors and specialists.
These are complex issues that municipalities are tackling with limited resources, while the health-care system struggles to meet rising demand. Patients increasingly require complex care, and many of you are burned out, managing overwhelming caseloads alongside excessive administrative burdens. Hospitals and Emergency Departments are overcrowded, with some Ontarians waiting more than eight hours for care, often with no suitable alternative.
Despite health care falling outside their official mandate, small and often rural municipalities across Ontario are each investing hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to support local health-care services, while you work tirelessly to provide the care Ontarians need and deserve.
We’ve heard these concerns loud and clear, and we remain committed to working closely with our municipal partners and the provincial government to develop sustainable, long-term solutions.