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According to Statistics Canada data, there are currently 91,900 vacancies in the health care field, the majority of which are for nurses and PSWs. Alex Lupul/The Canadian Press
Canada's health care system has a condition called secrecy.
The latest glaring example is the Ontario government's determined efforts to hide data about Ontario's shortage of doctors, nurses, and personal support workers from public view.
Back in 2022, Global News filed a Freedom of Information request regarding projections for Ontario's health worker shortage that were included in a press conference memo to Health Minister Sylvia Jones.
The government has refused to voluntarily release a nine-page document titled “Overview of Health Human Resources.” Lifting it would have been a wise decision, since severe staffing shortages in the health care system are not news and no one would blink an eye.
Instead, the Ministry of Health provided a redacted document that contained virtually no numbers.
Global News appealed this decision to the Information and Privacy Commission, and after a lengthy debate, the adjudicator ruled in the government's favor.
What can be said about this decision is that it lacks logic.
Adjudicator Alec Fadell accepted there was a “compelling public interest” in publishing the figures (and should have stopped there). But Fadell went on to say that releasing the data would have a negative impact on the government's ability to negotiate with doctors, nurses, personal support workers and staffing agencies.
In making its case for confidentiality, the government cites section 18(1)(c) of the Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which states that releasing the data would “prejudice the government's financial interests or its capabilities.” insisted. Manage the economy. ”
First of all, it's a dubious argument. There is ample evidence from various sources that there is an acute shortage of health workers.
Another government department, the Ontario Treasurer's Office, has predicted a shortage of 33,300 nurses and personal support workers by 2027-28.
According to Statistics Canada data, there are currently 91,900 job openings in the health sector, the majority of which are nurses and PSWs.
Canada currently has a shortage of 16,800 doctors, which will rise to 43,900 by 2028 if working conditions do not change, according to an RBC report.
Will unions use those numbers to demand improvements in staffing, working conditions, pay and benefits? Of course it is. This is called collective bargaining.
Will the staffing agency use that information to try to squeeze more money out of the Ontario government? surely. But the laws of supply and demand mean they're doing just fine without the data, racking up more than $600 million in contracts last year, up from $368 million the year before.
Would either party have more bargaining power if accurate projections were published? Doubtful.
What is actually having a negative impact on the economy is the shortage of medical workers itself, not the data to prove it.
And even if publishing the numbers causes “damage” (the definition in this case seems to be “paying workers more”), does that justify secrecy? of course not.
The state government is acting as if the Department of Health's numbers are confidential. But the idea that governments can suppress any negative data they collect or compile because it could cause economic damage is absurd.
What information will remain in the public domain, such as puppies and rainbows?
A health system without adequate staffing is not a health system at all. Canadians live this reality every day. The public, both in Ontario and elsewhere, deserves to know how bad the situation is and how it could get much worse.
The state government has an obligation to explain how the $81 billion-a-year health system got into this problem and what it plans to do to fix it.
We deserve insight into the government's thinking, or lack thereof.
The only thing that can do is prove the scale of government incompetence by publishing current numbers on the shortage of health workers and projections of how much worse these numbers will get over the next five to 10 years.
It is not the Information and Privacy Commission's job to protect the government from embarrassment. Its role is to interpret privacy laws in a way that benefits the public, not corporations or government agencies.
Transparency is a pillar of democracy. In medicine and other fields, the public has a right to know the truth, even when it hurts.
