New council will face health-care costs

Election campaign skirts impact of expenses downloaded by province

An artist’s rendering of the new Campus of Care.

The cost of health care looms over the municipal election like a dark cloud on the horizon threatening to ruin a family picnic.

Everyone knows its there, but no one really wants to talk about it, and they hope it will just go away.

At the Hastings candidates’ meeting on Saturday, they all agreed that health care and the new hospital are the No. 1 issue for the next four years, but no one followed up to discuss the cost, how it will be paid, and what it will mean for our budget and the possibility of doing other things, if we must spend more on health.

The reader survey done last month by Herman van den Berg, business professor emeritus and Lakehead University, found access to family doctors and local health-care services was by far the top concern.

In a way it’s not surprising that municipal candidates don’t want to tackle health care, it’s not supposed to be their job. Health care is a provincial responsibility, and decisions should be made by the province and funded by the province.

But that’s not the reality. Premier Doug Ford likes to brag that he’s never raised a tax, but that’s not true. He has forced counties and municipalities to spend more and more on health-care services and hiked the cost they must pay for Ontario Provincial Police services. The municipalities have no choice but to raise their taxes.

Unfortunately, that shifts these services from being paid by income taxes and other fairer methods onto our property taxes.

The municipality already spends more than $100,000 a year to attract physicians and nurse practitioners and that’s set to jump early next year. We’ve joined a county-wide doctor recruitment effort that has been largely funded by an anonymous $600,000 donation. County council was told recently that most of that money has been spent to attract five new doctors, who received $100,000 each, and municipalities will soon be asked to pony up.

At the county council meeting in August, Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander said that during his time as warden he had pleaded with the province to ban recruitment bonuses, saying that it set up a Game of Thrones competition between municipalities.

And then there’s the cost of the new hospital. The municipality will have to extend water and sewer services to the area. It hopes the multi-million-dollar cost will be covered by Ottawa or Queen’s Park, but there is no guarantee.

As well, the municipality will have to make a substantial contribution to the community share, which could be $75 million or more. The province doesn’t build a hospital, it just builds the shell. It is up local residents and municipalities to pay for the equipment needed to create a modern medical centre.

The Association of Municipalities of Ontario has complained that this is unfair to rural areas and poorer communities that can’t tap wealthy residents to pay their share. A few years ago, the hospitals in Scarborough launched a fundraising campaign built on the fact that they couldn’t provide necessary services because they were located in the poorest part of Toronto.

In 2025, Northumberland County budgeted $24 million for health services including paramedics, long-term care, physician recruitment and a Port Hope walk-in clinic. The province contributed $27 million that year toward these services.

Paying those costs increases the county’s tax levy, a staff report said.

“From the perspective of a taxpayer, this has meant increased pressure on property taxes to pay for these programs and services that were once paid for from provincial revenue sources,” said Matthew Nitsch, county treasurer, in a 2025 report to council.

In fact, it’s not just health care that has been downloaded to the county. It has been forced to take responsibility for roads, daycare and housing services. Nitsch said that in 2025 the county spent $38 million on downloaded programs, 47 per cent of its total tax levy of $80 million.

The Association of Municipalities has also complained about this, calling for the province to renegotiate the entire funding arrangement, but has been ignored. (You may notice a theme.)

Ford has repeatedly made it clear that he is the boss of all municipalities, in charge of everything from bike lanes in Toronto to conservation authorities across the province. He just doesn’t want to pay the bills.

New councillors will need to keep this reality in mind as they settle into their new roles, but they won’t have much time. They will likely face the draft 2027 budget at their December meeting, when they’ll still be trying to find the washrooms and figure out the wonky microphone system.

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