Communications

Introduction of LHIN Legislation November 24

For the Attention of Hospital Board Chairs, CEOs,
OHA Board of Directors and CACN Members

From Hilary Short, OHA President and CEO

Introduction of LHIN Legislation

Today George Smitherman, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, introduced the Local Health System Integration Act, 2005. This Bill, if passed, would create and provide statutory authority for Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs), and restructure Ontario’s Community Care Access Centre system.

The Bill is available for viewing online at: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/

The OHA provided the following public comments in response to the introduction of this Bill:

  • The OHA strongly supports the government’s health system transformation agenda.
  • We will work with the government, LHINs and our partners across the health care system to ensure that this Made-In-Ontario model meets the needs of patients and their communities.
  • The proposed LHINs legislation is very complex.
  • It touches on literally dozens of statutes.
  • We will provide our comments once we have completed our review of the Bill.


Members are encouraged to incorporate these messages into their own when managing local media inquiries, and are welcome to refer media calls to OHA Public Affairs at 416-205-1305. The OHA plans to withhold substantive public comment on the LHIN Bill until we can complete a preliminary legal and policy review of its provisions.

The review of the LHIN Bill will be guided by the advice provided to OHA staff by the Advocacy Committee of the OHA Board of Directors at its November meeting. The Advocacy Committee recommended that the review focus on the following areas:

1. Whether the provisions of the Bill provide LHINs with sufficient authority to fulfill their mandate, particularly with respect to:
a. Labour transition issues
b. Funding hospitals and community-based health provider
c. Order-making authority, particularly with respect to service integration and consolidation.

2. Whether the provisions of the Bill require LHINs to:
a. Acknowledge the inherent value of interdependent, voluntary governance
b. Actively consult the relevant community and health care stakeholders when developing plans
c. Take decisions based on facts and evidence and in accordance with due process, particularly with respect to service integration and consolidation.

3. Whether the provisions of the Bill require LHINs to make decisions and operate in an open, accountable and transparent manner.


As noted in our November 23, 2005 Member Bulletin (“Introduction of LHIN Legislation”), we will provide Members with commentary on the Bill once this review is complete.

In terms of next steps, we plan to discuss the preliminary legal and policy review, as well as the OHA’s public positioning, during the next teleconference with the Executive Committee of the OHA Board. A more comprehensive LHIN strategy will be tabled at the December meetings of the OHA Advocacy Committee and of the OHA Board of Directors. This strategy will be developed and refined by directly engaging the OHA’s Members through a number of tools, including Member Surveys.

If you have any questions about this Bulletin or the introduction of the LHIN legislation, please contact Anthony Dale, Vice President, Policy and Public Affairs (I) at 416-205-1348 (email: adale@oha.com) or Elizabeth Carlton, OHA Director of Legal and Legislative Affairs, at 416-205-1429 (email: ecarlton@oha.com). Media inquiries and communications questions may be directed to Chris McPherson, OHA Public Affairs, at 416-205-1305 (email: cmcpherson@oha.com).