On December 6, 2022, Senior Investigator Patrick Fafard was invited to do an interview with Radio Canada to talk about the role of the Chief Medical Officer (CMOH) in Ontario as there are discussions on the re-introduction of Bill52 to make the CMOH an officer of the government. In the interview, Professor Patrick Fafard argued that the Bill is designed to address the accountability of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, a critical issue in public health governance.
Fafard evaluated the success of the two solutions Bill52 offers:
1. Making the CMOH an Officer of the Legislature could be ineffective due to conflict of interest. The same person cannot release a report criticizing the government in the morning and provide advice to the Minister of Health in the afternoon.
2. The second proposal in the Bill is much more doable. When a public health emergency is declared, there would automatically be an appointment of a select committee of the government to receive and provide advice to the CMOH.
Listen to the full interview here.
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