Members of the Board and Staff: Please keep this agenda and the accompanying material until the City Council meeting dealing with these matters has ended.  The City Clerk’s Office will not provide additional copies.

Special Assistance for Members of the Public: City staff can arrange for special assistance with some advance notice.  If you need special assistance, please call 416‑397-7767, TTY 416-338-0889 or e-mail boh@toronto.ca.

Closed Meeting Requirements: If the Board of Health wants to meet in closed session (privately), a member of the Board must make a motion to do so and give the reason why the Board has to meet privately.  (City of Toronto Act, 2006)

Notice to people writing or making presentations to the Board of Health: The City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the City of Toronto Municipal Code authorize the City of Toronto to collect any personal information in your communication or presentation to City Council or its committees.

The City collects this information to enable it to make informed decisions on the relevant issue(s). If you are submitting letters, faxes, e-mails, presentations or other communications to the City, you should be aware that your name and the fact that you communicated with the City will become part of the public record and will appear on the City’s website. The City will also make your communication and any personal information in it – such as your postal address, telephone number or e-mail address – available to the public, unless you expressly request the City to remove it.

The City videotapes committee and community council meetings. If you make a presentation to a committee or community council, the City will be videotaping you and City staff may make the video tapes available to the public.

If you want to learn more about why and how the City collects your information, write to the City Clerk's Office, City Hall, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto ON M5H 2N2 or by calling 416-392-8032.

Declarations of Interest under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.

Confirmation of Minutes - August 20, 2010

Speakers/Presentations – A complete list will be distributed at the meeting.

Communications/Reports

The purpose of this report is to provide information on the cost of the Nutritious Food Basket in Toronto for 2010 and to advocate to the provincial government to undertake a comprehensive and timely review of Ontario's income security system, as recommended by the Social Assistance Review Advisory Council (SARAC) in their report entitled Recommendations for an Ontario Income Security Review¹ www.accesson.ca/en/mcss/publications/social/socialServices.aspx.  The Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) is a survey tool that measures the cost of healthy eating and monitors the affordability and accessibility of nutritious foods by relating the cost of the food basket to individual/household incomes. In 2010, the average cost of the NFB for a reference family of four in Toronto is $165.19 per week ($715.28 per month), a slight increase of 0.6% as compared to the 2009 pricing survey.²

There are no direct financial implications arising from this report.

The purpose of this report is to seek Board of Health endorsement of the Tobacco Strategy Advisory Group (TSAG) report entitled "Building on Our Gains, Taking Action Now: Ontario's Tobacco Control Strategy for 2011-2016" http://www.mhp.gov.on.ca/en/smoke-free/TSAG%20Report.pdf and to recommend that the Premier, Minister of Health Promotion and Sport and Toronto Members of Provincial Parliament take action on this report.

Action on the report’s recommendations is particularly urgent because smoking rates have stopped declining.  While progressive actions by the Ontario government did achieve a 20 % reduction in consumption before the end of its first mandate, approximately 2.1 million Ontarians continue to smoke and provincial health care costs spent treating tobacco-induced illness have reached $1.6 billion annually.

The report presents a consensus among tobacco control experts and researchers in Ontario on steps needed to take to further control the tobacco epidemic during the next five years.

The report is based on four key principles:

1.   Continue to build on the Smoke-Free Ontario Strategy

2.   Address both the supply of and demand for tobacco products

3.   Address the use of all tobacco products; and

4.   Take a “whole of government” approach.

There are no direct financial impacts arising from this report.

On November 16, 2009, the Toronto Board of Health recommended that the Province provide targeted funding for bed bug control initiatives for low income and vulnerable populations.  In addition, the Board also recommended that the City Manager recognize bed bug control as a City-wide issue that required the appointment of a project coordinator and the participation of all Divisions, Agencies and key community partners.

This report provides an update on these recommendations and highlights the Toronto Bed Bug Project's achievements for 2010.

As with other major cities in North America, Toronto continues to experience an increased level of bed bug infestations and the most vulnerable populations in Toronto continue to be the most seriously impacted by these infestations.

Divisions within the City and community agencies in Toronto have responded to this re-emerging pest by developing partnerships, maximizing existing programs, and diverting resources from other funded programs. 

While this approach has provided important assistance to populations in need, given the volume of requests received and the resources currently available to support  this effort, it  is unsustainable at the intensity that may be required over the long term.

In order to adequately respond on a prolonged and intensive basis to what is proving to be a persistent and recurring issue, specific targeted support for bed bug control initiatives is required.

While the Province of Ontario has recently shown increasing willingness to engage on the bed bug issue more generally, to date the specific financial assistance requested by the City of Toronto has yet to be provided.

There are no financial implications arising from this report.