The union representing thousands of hospital workers in Ontario is painting a grim picture of their workplaces.
A new report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario Council of Hospital Unions suggests the combined deficits of Ontario hospitals reached in excess of $400 million in 2025.
It adds that the funding used to cover daily expenses such as payroll and medical supplies has plummeted from $2 billion in 2020 to a shortfall of $280 million by the end of 2025.
The report suggests many hospitals borrow cash to make ends meet.
Researcher Doug Allan says they have also made job cuts to save money.
“Our estimate, which we believe is extremely conservative, is that there have been over 1,300 eliminations of jobs in Ontario hospitals since September of 2025, when the government required hospitals to come up with new plans for cuts, the hospital sector stabilization plans,” says Allan.
“At a time when we need to increase capacity, we’re seeing job cuts. We think that is now getting worse.”
The union claims that deliberate underfunding, understaffing and the privatization of services have caused emergency room closures, higher wait times and reduced quality of care for patients.
The province has committed to annual increases in hospital operating budgets of nearly 4%.
The Council of Hospital Unions says it is not enough to keep up with rising costs or the complex needs of patients.
“We have an aging population that drives a significant increase,” says Allan.
“We’ve also had very significant population growth in recent years. We also just see societies become richer, that people make rational decisions and want the care that can actually let them live in good health or live longer.”
He says Ontario is also experiencing an increase in individuals with mental health issues and people with chronic illnesses at younger ages that add pressure to the healthcare system.
President of CUPE/OCHU Michael Hurley says hospitals need annual increases of 6% just to maintain services.
These pressures are related to that demographic bubble, and the government has a choice. It can either do what a previous government did when the baby boom generation was born, which was build capacity so that the kids could go to school, or it can pretend the problem doesn’t exist,” says Hurley.
“What this government is doing is even worse than that. It says that it will deal with it. It says it will find the resources. But in fact, the problem doubles and then it solves it by not reporting.”
Health Minister Sylvia Jones defends the government’s commitment to hospitals.
She insists that they have been making the necessary investments.
“We are building through many campaigns, expansions, new hospitals, an additional 3,000 net new beds. So we’re making the investments on the capital side,” says Jones.
“We’re also making the investment on the health human resources because you can’t open beds if you’re not going to have clinicians to serve.”
Jones says they are also in the midst of a three-year process to get hospitals to balanced budgets.
She says regional tables are working on best practices and innovations that can be shared throughout the province.
