TORONTO – Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman today released the second interim report from Mr. Justice Archie Campbell, who was commissioned to investigate the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Ontario in 2003.

"I want to thank Justice Campbell for his second extremely useful report on the SARS outbreak," said Minister Smitherman. "We will carefully assess his recommendations in conjunction with our many ongoing initiatives to strengthen our public health system."

Making Ontarians healthier is one of the McGuinty government's key priorities. Operation Health Protection was released in June 2004 in response to the interim Campbell report and the final report of the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control. It is a three year plan containing some of the most comprehensive changes to public health since the 1980s.

Some of the improvements to public health made by the McGuinty government include :

• Passing legislation to make the chief medical officer of health (CMOH) more independent
• Increasing the province's share of public health funding from 50% to 75 per cent by 2007
• Hiring 180 infectious disease control staff
• Establishing the Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee (PIDAC) to advise the CMOH on the prevention, surveillance and control of infectious diseases in Ontario.

In his second report, Justice Campbell acknowledged that the McGuinty government has undertaken the major changes to public health that he recommended in his first report.

"The government accepted the recommendations and committed itself to implement them in an ambitious three-year program," writes Campbell. "Improvements have so far been significant."

Several of the recommendations made in Justice Campbell's second report relate to the operation of local public health units. The Ministry of Health and Long Term Care has already begun a review of the 36 health units across the province. This review will examine many issues raised by Justice Campbell, such as governance, accountability, structure, and capacity issues.

The Campbell Commission was established to investigate how the SARS virus came to the province, how the virus spread and how it was dealt with. The report outlines what happened, what lessons have been learned and what improvements should be made to Ontario's health care system.

For further information :

Members of the general public : (416) 327-4327, or (800) 268-1154

Backgrounder Renewing Public Health In Ontario 2 pages | 24k | PDF format

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