Grey & Bruce Counties Call Joint Meeting to Discuss Health Unit Governance
Grey and Bruce counties will meet Nov. 27 to discuss governance at Grey Bruce Public Health. The report used to justify the province’s takeover from the counties remains unreleased.
Grey and Bruce County councils will hold a special joint meeting on Thursday, November 27, to discuss governance issues at Grey Bruce Public Health (GBPH). The meeting begins at 2:30 p.m. at the Grey County Administration Building and will be chaired by Grey County Warden Andrea Matrosovs.
The majority of the meeting will take place in closed session. According to a Grey County spokesperson, the special meeting was called to address “matters relating to governance with respect to the Grey Bruce Health Unit.”
The meeting comes more than three months after the province removed seven municipal representatives from the GBPH Board of Health and assumed direct control of the board’s powers through the Chief Medical Officer of Health, citing serious concerns about governance, finances, leadership, and human resources.
The health unit serves a large region that includes Owen Sound, Walkerton, Tobermory, and the Bruce Peninsula. Its 2025 budget is $13.49 million, funded primarily by the Ontario Ministry of Health ($10.43 million), with Grey and Bruce counties contributing a combined $3.06 million, or 22.68% of the total.
Concerns around board governance had been mounting. In 2021, Grey Bruce Medical Officer of Health Dr. Ian Arra received $631,510 in compensation, making him the highest-paid MOH in Ontario that year.
The figure — and Arra’s response to being questioned — sparked public backlash and sharp questions from municipal councils about oversight, accountability, and how the board approved such a sum. The health unit board defended the pay at the time as related to pandemic responsibilities.
This June, absences from a scheduled board meeting and questions about quorum and decision-making prompted discussion among remaining members. Several members — including Nick Saunders, Sue Carlton, Kevin Eccles, Andrea Matrosovs, and Jay Kirkland — were absent.
Board minutes from February, June, and July 2025 show that key decisions were made with only two provincially appointed executive members present and without municipal representation.
Members also asked for clarification on executive committee roles, quorum, and policy transparency.
Seven municipal members of the Grey Bruce Public Health Board were then removed effective August 6 — a change both counties say they learned about through letters sent directly to the affected members from the board chair.
The board’s composition previously included 11 members, seven of whom were municipal appointees. As of August 11, only four provincially appointed members were listed, with one seat shown as vacant.
Both counties confirmed that municipal representatives had received letters from the board chair advising of their removal, effective August 6.
In a joint statement, Grey County Warden Andrea Matrosovs and Bruce County Warden Luke Charbonneau confirmed that municipal members had received termination letters and said:
“Bruce and Grey counties want to support the public health needs of our residents. We want to work collaboratively with the Ministry on the best solutions.”
They committed to transparency as more information became available, but noted that neither county had been consulted in advance of the decision.
The Ministry of Health also confirmed that it had delivered an investigative report to the chair, with instructions to submit a plan to address its findings.
Three days later, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, invoked Section 77.1 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, giving him temporary authority over the GBPH Board.
While provincially appointed members remained in place, they were effectively sidelined during the takeover. Moore appointed a special advisor to help restore leadership and governance at the board.
Nick Saunders, former chair of the board, later argued that the province had directed him to remove the county representatives from the board. He asked Moore to retract a statement blaming Saunders for making the decision unilaterally.
The province’s intervention at Grey Bruce Public Health follows a broader trend. In 2025 alone, Ontario took steps to remove or sideline local governance in several sectors, including school boards and conservation authorities. Municipal leaders across the province have expressed concern about these moves toward centralization.
Repeated Attempts to Obtain the Ministry’s Report
The investigative report used by the Ministry of Health to justify removing municipal board members and assuming control of Grey Bruce Public Health has not been released, despite repeated efforts under Ontario’s access‑to‑information laws.
Owen Sound Current filed a request with GBPH on August 11 to have the ministry’s audit report released under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).
On August 21, 2025, Grey Bruce Public Health denied our request. That initial refusal cited Section 9 of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA) — “relations with governments” — which allows an institution to withhold information received in confidence from the Government of Ontario or its agencies.
Owen Sound Current appealed that decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) on August 28. We argued that an audit of governance practices at a publicly funded health unit is not the type of information “reasonably expected” to be given in confidence, and that GBPH should review the report, redact only what is truly exempt, and release the rest.
Before the IPC responded, Grey Bruce Public Health issued a second denial letter on October 7. This time, the health unit expanded the list of exemptions and exclusions it was relying on. In addition to Section 9 (relations with governments), GBPH cited:
Section 52(3) – Labour relations and employment matters (an exclusion, meaning MFIPPA does not apply)
Section 6(1)(b) – Closed meeting records
Section 14(1) – Personal privacy
On November 3, Owen Sound Current entered the IPC’s mediation process. In a call with an IPC mediator, Managing Editor Miranda Miller argued that municipally appointed board members — who were removed based on the findings of this report — are not employees of Grey Bruce Public Health, the Ontario government, or any provincial agency.
Therefore, a governance investigation focused on the board’s structure, attendance, and oversight responsibilities does not fall under the “labour relations and employment matters” exemption being used to exclude the report in full.
It is our position that any personnel issues cited in the report should be redacted, and the remainder released, so members of the public are fully informed as to why the province dismissed local representatives in favour of provincially appointed parties.
Despite this argument, on November 21, the IPC notified our publication that Grey Bruce Public Health continues to refuse to release even a redacted version of the report.
As it stands, the report used by the Province of Ontario to remove Grey and Bruce County representatives from the Board of Health — and to take control of the publicly funded health unit — remains concealed from the public.
The file will now be escalated. An adjudicator will conduct a formal inquiry into the appeal and issue a final, written order to resolve it.
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