Ontario science table to be dissolved next month as director warns that pandemic will continue to be a 'daunting challenge'
A group of volunteer scientists and public health experts who have provided independent advice on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic say that their work is being discontinued, even as the Ford government insists that is not the case.
The Ontario Science Advisory Table has released a statement confirming that it was told by Public Health Ontario last week that it will be dissolved as of Sept. 6.
Premier Doug Ford, however, told reporters during a news conference in Niagara Falls on Friday that the work previously undertaken by the table will be “absorbed” by Public Health Ontario and will continue in some form.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health also told CP24 that the “the work of the Science Advisory Table (SAT) will continue” and that the “transition” currently tasking place “will help bolster its provincial resources, and ensure it can continue its strong connections with the broader academic community.”
“We aren’t dissolving it,” Ford insisted. “They are going to have a fulltime home over at public health working with (Chief Medical Officer of Health) Dr. (Kieran) Moore.”
The move to shut down the 35-member table and create a new structure under Public Health Ontario comes less than five months after the arms-length provincial agency announced that it was assuming “operation and oversight” of it. The table had previously been hosted by the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.
It also comes on the heels of the resignation of Science Advisory Table Co-Chair Dr. Adalsteinn Brown earlier this month.
In a memo sent to Public Health Ontario President and CEO Michael Sherar and released publicly on Friday, the remaining members of the table said that they would aim to complete their existing work ahead of Sept. 6.
They then cited several “key principals” of their “original mandate,” including an ability to “identify and study any scientific question that our members felt would help Ontario fight COVID-19” and to “communicate publicly and openly about the results of our investigations.”
The table also shared several lessons that they said they learned throughout the pandemic.
Those lessons were as follows: science matters, equity counts, transparency is critical, independence must be both perceived and delivered and timeliness and relevance are essential.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues, and it contributes to Ontario’s growing number of health system crises,” the memo states. “Each of us on the science table has a contribution to make in the effort to secure Ontario's health, and we will now return fully to that work.”
The Ontario Science Advisory Table is made up of dozens of scientists and other experts, who have volunteered their time to study numerous aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, often providing blunt advice to the government on the need for public health measures to limit spread.
The table also had a separate modelling group, which were responsible for frequent COVID-19 projections which often provided an early warning about impending waves of the pandemic.
In a statement released on Friday, the table’s scientific director Dr. Farhad Razak noted that it was a “great privilege” to serve on the table since its inception and said that he hoped some of the “difficult” advice it provided ultimately “helped to reduce suffering” during “the worst public health crisis in a century.”
Razak, however, warned that the “pandemic will remain a daunting challenge for the foreseeable future” and expressed hope that the “principals the table was based on” will live on in some form.
“I hope we can all take the steps necessary to reduce the burden of the pandemic to keep our system functioning in the difficult months ahead,” he said.
Advice was often ignored by government
The science’s table’s advice often differed from the actions taken by the Ford government throughout the pandemic, with its former scientific director Dr. Peter Juni frequently taking to the airwaves to forcefully urge Queen’s Park to act more aggressively.
He also, on occasion, found himself at odds with some of the decisions made by the Ford government, particularly over its decision to close playgrounds and other recreational amenities during a devastating wave of the pandemic in the spring of 2021.
The dissolution of the table, at least in its current form, comes with case loads trending down in more than half of Ontario’s public health units, even as experts warn of a fall wave of the pandemic that could put further strain on Ontario’s already overburdened healthcare system.
Students are also set to return to classrooms next month, with mask mandates no longer in effect and many other temporary public health meatuses, such as cohorting and mandatory physical distancing, no longer in place.
At this point it is not clear what form the advisory group could take under Public Health Ontario.
In a statement provided to CP24, the arms-length government agency said that the terms of reference are “currently being finalized.”
It said that once complete the new mandate for the group would allow for “continued provision of credible and independent scientific and technical public.” It also said that membership “will continue to be comprised of independent experts.”
“The new terms of reference establish a mandate that reflects a long-term, sustainable approach,” the statement notes.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'One of the single most terrifying things ever': Ontario couple among passengers on sinking tour boat in Dominican Republic
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their 'extremely dangerous' experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.