October 2011 - Our Voice in Action

Health and Built Environment Workgroup

OPHA is happy to announce that Public Health has a seat at the table for Provincial Policy Statement Review Working Group as part of the required 5 year review. In the spring of 2011 there was a call for comments on the existing PPS as part of the review. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has taken this feedback and identified common themes including:

  1. A need to enhance the linkages between good land use planning and healthy active communities.
  2. A recognition that policies need to be added to address Climate Change mitigation and adaptation and
  3. Requests for greater clarity of Sustainability.

It is the expectation that members of this committee will share information with their constituent societies and seek input to some questions along the way. Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities as the process continues.

The Food Security Workgroup (FSWG)

The FSWG is pleased to have provided support to health units across Ontario as they are beginning to report on their results for the 2011 Nutritious Food Basket (NFB), a mandatory food costing survey under the Ontario Public Health Standards. The resources are an updated NFB costing survey scenario spreadsheet, which can be used to determine the adequacy of different sources of income to allow singles or families to purchase necessities of living including healthy foods, and also a NFB media advocacy toolkit, which includes a template media release. Another advocacy highlight is the Call to Action on Food Security, developed through a joint partnership of the FSWG and the Ontario Society of Nutrition Professionals in Public Health, which will soon be posted to the OPHA website.

The Alcohol Workgroup

From early March until June of this year, the OPHA Alcohol Workgroup focused a great deal of time and effort on advocating against proposed changes to the Liquor License Act (LLA) that would increase the physical access and availability of alcohol in the province. This included preparation of speaking notes for a consultation with the Ministry of the Attorney General on March 10th, and sharing news items, documentation and letter templates with health units in Ontario to encourage MOHs and Boards of Health to take action. Despite these efforts, and the efforts of other health interest groups including CAMH and MADD Canada, these changes to the LLA were enacted on June 1st.

Other activities to date have included hosting a meeting with CAMH to discuss the National Low Risk Drinking Guidelines (LRDG), providing input into an OPHA response to the Chief Medical Officer of Health annual report, supporting the Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity 8 Forum, and partnering with MADD and CAMH on advocacy against the Ontario Convenience Stores Association lobbying for beer and wine sales in corner stores.