WATERLOO REGION — Local public health will be merging into one "super" public health unit covering nearly three million people and also taking in Peel and Halton regions, as well as Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.

Regional Chair Karen Redman said she was told on Friday that the Doug Ford government is merging many of the province's public health units.

By April, 2020, it's expected that the current 35 public health units will be consolidated into 10 regional bodies.

"I have grave concerns," said Redman in an interview Monday afternoon.

"The farther you move away from local decision-making, the greater the opportunity there is for less responsive and accountable decisions," she said.

Redman said it remains unknown what this will mean for Waterloo Region. She doesn't know if there will be job losses.

But in a year, public health will no longer be part of Waterloo Regional government.

For now, regional officials have been told that from April, 2019 to March, 2020 will be a transition year and funding will be given to the region to meet these changes.

Redman said she doesn't know how much the region will be getting or when the money will come.

Redman said she's concerned for the front-line services that the public can access and the many boards public health workers sit on.

Public health — currently located on Regina Street in Waterloo and in offices in Cambridge — deals with vaccinations, restaurant inspections and food safety, communicable diseases, nutrition and dental health programs and safe water.

Public health has also been responsible for the plans for a supervised drug consumption site in Kitchener.

The region took over public health in 1975. Today, there are nearly 300 employees and the annual budget is $35.7 million. The region contributes $8.1 million.

The plan to amalgamate public health units was released in the 2019 provincial budget last month.

The province said it wanted to "modernize" Ontario's public health system.

The merging of units is expected to save the province up to $200 million.

Also being streamlined are paramedic services. The province plans to reduce the 59 current paramedic services to 10.

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Redman said the region will still be funding the services offered by public health.

"The question becomes do we raise taxes and user rates to raise money to meet decisions made elsewhere and all we are told is what our bill is at the end of the day," she said.

"We don't have the input in deciding what the region's priorities are," she said.

The Record reached out to the three local Progressive Conservative MPP's offices. None of the members responded.

In response, Hayley Chazan, press secretary for Minister of Health and Long-Term Care Christine Elliott, said in an email that the specific boundaries of the new regional health units will be finalized in consultation with municipalities shortly.

"In the meantime, we are in direct contact with all public health units to provide information about our modernization plan and to answer questions. Through these technical working groups, we will also work with our municipal partners to design governance and delivery models that protect and preserve the voice of all municipalities," she said.

Chazan said the ministry will "ensure that public health investments better meet the needs of local communities."

Note to readers: This story has been updated to correct the current number of paramedic services.

lmonteiro@therecord.com

@MonteiroRecord