OSMH board faces backlash after removing city and legion seats

The Orillia Soldiers' Memorial Hospital board amending its corporate bylaws at a recent meeting removing the city and legion positions from its board.

An online petition has been launched after Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) voted to remove two long-standing positions from its board of directors, the city’s representative and the local legion branch.

The hospital board recently amended its corporate bylaws, eliminating both ex-officio voting seats, which had been held by the mayor and a representative from the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 34. The decision sparked backlash from community members and officials, with nearly 250 people signing an online petition calling for the board to reverse its decision.

City officials and legion members say they weren’t notified that such a decision was coming.

In a community letter released Thursday, the board’s chair said the legion position was eliminated because it was frequently vacant. He also pointed to concerns about the city’s representative, Mayor Don McIsaac, saying the mayor refused to cooperate fully with a third-party legal investigation into possible code of conduct issues.

But McIsaac disputes that claim.

“I cooperated all the way through, in fact, I suggested at every turn how to improve the investigation,” the mayor said, adding he requested the lawyer show proof of their retainer and that written questions be provided ahead of a meeting.

McIsaac says all his requests were denied and the lawyer eventually backed out.

“Once she did, I suggested that we go to the integrity commissioner as a way to resolve this, because I thought it was fair to both sides to have their sides heard,” the mayor said.

The hospital board has not disclosed publicly what specific concerns it had with the mayor, but rather alluded to a potential conflict of interest. The legion’s former board representative, James McIsaac, is the mayor’s brother and was appointed shortly after Don McIsaac took office.

“That is not in keeping with current best practices for governing a publicly-funded institution,” the board chair stated.

Orillia’s mayor rejects the suggestion of nepotism.

“Nepotism is incurring a favour onto a family member, I had nothing to do with his appointment to the board, just as he had nothing to do with mine,” McIsaac stated. He also warned that the board’s decision risks alienating the community at a critical time, with a new hospital on the way.

“They’re going to ask this community for, probably $2 million a month for the next 20 years, these are huge amounts of money,” McIsaac said.

The legion’s president, Rick Purcell, also pushed back on claims the legion seat was often unfilled.

“It’s Soldiers’ Memorial, it’s there to represent soldiers. We represent soldiers. We’d like to be there as part of the hospital,” he said.

Purcell said that after the previous legion representative resigned, the branch submitted a new nominee who was never officially accepted by the board.

“They just didn’t like the idea of having a person on the board that they didn’t interview and select - that’s what I was told,” he added.

The hospital board says removing ex-officio voting members aligns with a trend seen across the health care sector.

Although the bylaw change has been approved by the board, it still requires confirmation at the hospital’s annual general meeting next week, where it could yet be voted down.