CENTRAL MANITOULIN—Council of the Municipality of Central Manitoulin has donated an extra $34,000 to the Manitoulin Central Family Health Team to be utilized in doctor recruitment efforts.
The motion, moved by Councillor Rose Diebolt and seconded by Councillor John Bisaillon, “that the yearly donation for 2025 to the Manitoulin Central Family Health Team doctor recruitment program be increased by $34,000.”
The motion was slightly confusing, as noted by Councillor Bisaillon, in that the municipality already currently contributes $8,000 to the joint Island doctor recruitment program. Clarification provided indicated that the total amount being set for doctor recruitment is $42,000, but that the $34,000 in the motion was contingent on a doctor moving to the community and is separate from the $8,000 joint contribution.
“That’s what (the recruiter’s) job is going to be,” noted Mayor Richard Stephens, “but that is different from what the MCFHT needs because they need extra funding to actually get one of the doctors with the new program that they’ve initiated to come here for four years, three to four years, like they did in Gore Bay, so that $34,000 there is going to MCFHT and the other $8,000 in the budget, as Derek insisted in our last meeting, is keeping it in our recruitment.”
Mayor Stephens noted that the $34,000 amount is contingent on a doctor moving to the community for four years. “If we don’t have a doctor come, it’s going to be sitting there till next year or whenever,” he said. “Until they need it,”
The $8,000, on the other hand, goes toward the salary of the pan-Island recruiter.
