Questions Mount as 7 Municipal Officials Removed From Grey Bruce Public Health Board
Seven municipal officials are no longer on the Grey Bruce Public Health Board, their seats now filled mostly by provincial appointees, with no public explanation.
Changes to the composition of the Board of Health at Grey Bruce Public Health, with several elected municipal representatives no longer listed and their seats now largely held by provincial appointees, are raising a lot of questions — and eyebrows.
The Board of Health - Members page on the GBPH website listed 11 board members on April 24, 2025:
Board Membership Shrinks from 11 to 4
Today, that page lists just four members on the GBPH website. At time of publication, the Public Appointments Secretariat for the Province of Ontario lists those four members plus an empty seat:
Nick Saunders is the representative for Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation, and was appointed Chair of the Public Health Board for a one-year term that began in December 2024. He had joined the board as a non-voting member in 2020 and was named a Provincial Appointee to the board in April 2023.
Beverly Wilkins was appointed by the province in December 2023, for a period not to exceed three years. The province appointed Helen-Claire Tingling, a PC party candidate in the University-Rosedale riding in the 2019 election, two days later.
Then came Chad Richards, listed on LinkedIn as Senior Director of the Bruce Power Nexus Research Centre, in October 2024. Richards sought the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound riding PC nomination in 2019 when Larry Miller stepped back.
Seven Municipal Officials No Longer Listed
Those no longer listed as board members are:
Sue Carlton, Mayor of Georgian Bluffs
Kevin Eccles, Mayor of West Grey
Andrea Matrosovs, Grey County Warden
Shirley Keaveney, Deputy Mayor of Meaford
Kenneth Craig, Mayor of Kincardine
Jay Kirkland, Mayor of South Bruce Peninsula
Don Murray, Deputy Warden of Bruce County
As of this morning, the Public Appointments Secretariat website listing for the GBPH board still states:
“The board is composed of seven municipal members and one or more members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council. The number of Lieutenant Governor in Council appointees shall be less than the number of municipal members.”
The Owen Sound Current asked Sylvia Jones, Minister of Health and Deputy Premier of Ontario, and her communications team why most elected officials from Grey and Bruce counties have been removed from the Grey Bruce Public Health board. They have not yet responded.
Several members were absent from the June 27, 2025, board meeting, including Nick Saunders, Sue Carlton, Kevin Eccles, Andrea Matrosovs, and Jay Kirkland.
At that meeting, Helen Claire-Tingling, Beverly Wilkins, Don Murray, Kenneth Craig, Todd Richards, and Shirley Keaveney made a quorum.
Attendance and Quorum Concerns at June 27 Meeting
Don Murray raised a concern early in that meeting about attendance and governance issues.
“I’ve been on three meetings of the board, and the Chair was at the first meeting and left, and hasn’t been back. And now we’ve run an executive meeting with two members, so I’m not sure where quorum comes in at 50%… what the policy says for that,” Murray said.
Dr. Ian Arra explained to the board that two people at an executive meeting are still a quorum.
Kenneth Craig questioned whether the board should clarify policies around the executive committee, as a pecuniary interest declared by a member in the previous meeting’s situation — where only two members were present — would leave important decisions being made by a single person. Craig questioned what legislation guided such a situation and suggested they consult the Municipal Act.
Executive Committee Structure Quietly Changed
Helen-Claire Tingling explained that the GBPH board’s executive committee, “at its core,” consists of three people: the Chair, the Vice-Chair, and a provincial nominee. She also stated that executive meetings are called by the Chair — in this case, Nick Saunders — “when they find it convenient.”
Tingling did not explain when the executive committee regulations had changed to include one provincial nominee. She said when the chair of the executive committee calls a meeting, the two other members are “canvassed,” and it’s really not a matter of one person exclusively making decisions.
“I just don’t want us to spend a lot of time right now discussing a problem that isn’t a problem,” Tingling said.
The executive committee has posted three sets of minutes this year to date from their meetings:
February 12, 2025
June 16, 2025
July 23, 2025
In February, all four executive committee members were present: Saunders (as Chair of the Public Health board), Chad Richards (as Vice-Chair), and Kevin Eccles and Sue Carlton, neither of whom is a provincial appointee to the GBPH board.
The June meeting consisted of Saunders, Richards, and Dr. Ian Arra, along with a staff member as secretary. Carlton and Eccles were not present. All business was conducted in closed session.
The July meeting also consisted of Saunders and Richards as the only decision-making attendees, with Dr. Arra and three other staff members in attendance. Carlton and Eccles were not present. All business was conducted in closed session.
Counties Seek Answers from Province
It’s unclear when the executive committee composition rules changed to include one provincial appointee versus two members of the board of elected representatives from across Grey and Bruce counties — or who authorized the change.
Similarly, it is not known who authorized the removal of seven elected representatives from the Board of Health, including the Warden of Grey County and Deputy Warden of Bruce County.
A representative from Bruce County told The Owen Sound Current they have “reached out to the Ministry of Health for more information on what has transpired” and will release a statement later today.
Their counterparts in Grey told us: “Grey County is reaching out to the Ministry of Health for clarity on the actions taken and will have a statement when we know more information.”
Past Governance Controversies
This is not the first time governance and oversight at Grey Bruce Public Health have come under scrutiny. In a June 2024 letter to the editor, former Owen Sound councillor John Tamming wrote that the Ministry of Health had appointed a special investigator to examine the health unit, with a report expected within months.
The Owen Sound Current has requested a copy of that report from Dr. Ian Arra and Grey Bruce Public Health.
Earlier, in 2021, Dr. Arra publicly defended his 2020 compensation after the province’s Sunshine List showed he was the highest-paid medical officer of health in Ontario, earning over $631,000. The Board of Health said the figure reflected extensive overtime during the pandemic in the absence of an associate medical officer of health.
The issue prompted a letter from four municipal councillors raising questions about the health unit’s operations, sparking a heated exchange at Owen Sound city council.
Key Questions Remain Unanswered
Neither Grey Bruce Public Health nor the province has explained the removal of seven municipal representatives, the shift toward a majority of provincial appointees, or when and under what authority the executive committee’s composition changed.
Until those details are made public, the governance process and decision-making structure of the board will remain under scrutiny, with key questions about transparency, accountability, and compliance with the board’s stated composition rules still unanswered.