Ministry of Health (Ontario)

The Ministry of Health is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for administering the health care system in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The ministry is responsible to the Ontario Legislature through the minister of health, presently Sylvia Jones since June 24, 2022.

Services and programs

• Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP)
• Ontario Drug Benefit Program - prescription drug coverage
• Community and public health through Public Health Ontario
• Ontario Health agency
• Health811

The ministry also regulates hospitals, operates some medical laboratories and regulates others, and co-ordinates emergency medical services for the province.

The ministry once operated ambulance services outside of major cities in Ontario, but the services were downloaded to municipalities around 1998.

History

In the early years of Canadian Confederation, health was still considered primarily a municipal rather than provincial matter. The Public Health Act of 1873 permitted the Lieutenant Governor to establish, by proclamation, a temporary "Central Board of Health" to deal with disease if it reached epidemic proportions. However, no proclamations were ever made, and a Central Board was never established.

The Provincial Board of Health was established on March 10, 1882, and it was charged with overseeing the many local health boards. It also assumed the responsibility of dealing with an epidemic, if one should arise. The board reported to the Lieutenant Governor (1882-1903), to the Provincial Secretary (1904-1918), then to the Department of Labour (1919-1924).

In 1924, the Provincial Board of Health was replaced by the Department of Health. In 1930, the department accepted from the Department of the Provincial Secretary the responsibilities for administering Ontario's psychiatric hospitals and inspecting the province's public and private hospitals. Also in 1930, the Department of Hospitals was established under the direction of the first Minister of Health; that department became a division of the Department of Health in 1934. In 1952, cancer research and the operation of cancer clinics was added to the department's responsibilities. Insured hospital services and insured physicians' services, introduced in 1959 and 1966 respectively, were combined under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) in 1972. The department also had responsibility over areas that are no longer associated with health, such as water and sewage functions (prior to 1957), mental retardation facilities and children's services (transferred to the Ministry of Community and Social Services in 1974), and occupational health (transferred to the Ministry of Labour in 1976).

In 1961, the Royal Commission on Health Services, chaired by Justice Emmett Matthew Hall, was appointed, which served as a catalyst for a major overhaul of the department.

In 1972, the Department of Health was renamed the Ministry of Health in a government-wide restructuring. In 1999, the Ministry of Health was renamed the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. In 2011, the Ministry of Health Promotion and Sport was combined with the Ministry. On June 20, 2019, the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care was split into the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Long-Term Care. The Ministry of Health retained responsibility for most of the health care system, but the Ministry of Long-Term care is responsible for long-term care homes and placements.

List of ministers

	Name	Term of office		Tenure	Name	Term of Office		Tenure	Political party (Ministry)	Note
	Ministers of Health				Other Ministers
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Forbes Godfrey	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |Conservative (Ferguson)
rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	John Robb	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |Conservative (Henry)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. James Faulkner	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | Liberal (Hepburn)
rowspan="3;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Harold Kirby	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Concurrently Minister of Public Welfare (October 27, 1942 – May 18, 1943)
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | Liberal (Conant)
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |Liberal (Nixon)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Percy Vivian	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |PC (Drew)	Concurrently Minister of Public Welfare
rowspan="3;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Russell Kelley	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |PC (Kennedy)
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						rowspan="3;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |PC (Frost)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Mac Phillips	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Matthew Dymond	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
Template:Dts		Template:Dts						rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | PC (Robarts)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Tom Wells	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Albert Lawrence	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="6;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | PC (Davis)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Richard Potter	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Frank Miller	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dennis Timbrell	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Larry Grossman	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Keith Norton	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Tom Wells served as acting minister while Norton was on sick leave (October 11 to December 5, 1983)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Alan Pope	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | PC (Miller)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Philip Andrewes	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Murray Elston	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |Liberal (Peterson)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Elinor Caplan	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Mother of later minister David Caplan (2008–09)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Evelyn Gigantes	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="3" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" ; |NDP (Rae)	Resigned after inadvertently revealing the name of a Toronto man who had been sent to the United States for drug treatment that wasn't offered in the province.
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Frances Lankin	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Ruth Grier	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Jim Wilson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd (first instance)					rowspan="7" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" ; |PC (Harris)	Resigned for ministerial responsibility (his aide improperly disclosed confidential health information to a reporter), reinstated after conclusion of investigation.
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	David Johnson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Interim Minister, while Chair of the Management Board of Cabinet
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Jim Wilson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd (second instance) 2 years, 32 days in total	Minister of Long-Term Care
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Elizabeth Witmer	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Cam Jackson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
	Ministers of Health and Long-Term Care
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Elizabeth Witmer	Template:Dts	Template:Dts
rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Tony Clement	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Helen Johns (February 8, 2001 – April 14, 2002) & Dan Newman (April 15, 2002 – October 22, 2003) served as Associate Ministers
Template:Dts		Template:Dts	Minister of Health Promotion				style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |PC (Eves)
rowspan =2 style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	George Smitherman	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Jim Watson	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	rowspan="4;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | Liberal (McGuinty)	Smitherman is also Deputy Premier (September 22, 2006 - November 9, 2009)
Margarett Best					Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd
	style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	David Caplan	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				Template:Ayd	Son of previous minister Elinor Caplan (1987–90)
	rowspan="2;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Deb Matthews	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				Template:Ayd	While Deputy Premier (February 11, 2013 - January 17, 2018)
Template:Dts	Template:Dts						rowspan="3;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" | Liberal (Wynne)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Eric Hoskins	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					Dipika Damerla served as Associate Minister (Long-Term Care and Wellness) (June 24, 2014 – June 13, 2016)
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Dr. Helena Jaczek	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					While Chair of Cabinet
style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Christine Elliott	Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd					rowspan="7;" style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |PC (Ford)	While Deputy Premier
	Ministers of Health				Minister of Long-Term Care
rowspan=3 style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Christine Elliott	Template:Dts	Template:Dts		Merrilee Fullerton	Template:Dts	June 18, 2021	Template:Ayd	Elliott is Deputy Premier; Michael Tibollo is Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, from Template:Dts to present and for Template:Ayd
Rod Philips					June 18, 2021	January 14, 2022	Template:Ayd
Paul Calandra					Template:Dts	Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	While Government House Leader
	rowspan=2 style="background:Template:Canadian party colour;" |	Sylvia Jones	Template:Dts	Template:Dts				Template:Ayd
Stan Cho	Template:Dts				Template:Dts	Template:Ayd	Jones is Deputy Premier; Michael Tibollo is Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, from Template:Dts to present and for Template:Ayd

See also

• Walker Panel