Ontario hospitals cut jobs, freeze vacancies as deficits widen: report

Ontario hospitals are eliminating positions and leaving vacancies unfilled as more than 70% of facilities in the province forecast budget deficits despite a recent funding increase, according to a recent report. 

And some hospitals are already drawing on reserves to cover daily operating costs, CBC noted. 

The provincial government increased hospital funding by $1.1 billion this year, but the Ontario Hospital Association had warned the actual need was more than double that amount, CBC reported. Hospitals say they are facing rising costs, an aging population and more complex care needs at the same time.

Last year, the Ministry of Health directed hospitals to file three‑year plans to eliminate deficits. CBC reported that “low risk” savings were to be implemented immediately, while “high risk” proposals would be reviewed at regional and provincial planning tables. The directive effectively links staffing and operational decisions to multi‑year financial targets.

Hospital-level job cuts and vacancy freezes

The Ottawa Hospital is among the institutions confirming reductions. In a written statement cited by CBC, the hospital said it has offered early retirement, cut vacant positions, frozen travel and adopted a “more economical” benefits plan to address financial pressures.

“Despite all of this, regrettably there will still be some reductions to job positions in the coming months,” the hospital said. “These reductions amount to three % of our overall workforce, however through vacancy management and early retirement options, we will work to limit any involuntary departures.” The hospital is relying on attrition to avoid layoffs where possible.

London Health Sciences Centre is also reducing headcount. CBC reported that the hospital is cutting nursing positions over three years “to align staffing levels with the hospital’s peers,” with local media estimating more than 200 nursing roles to be removed largely through attrition. Similar strategies are being used elsewhere as hospitals try to trim staff without issuing termination notices.

Chatham‑Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) announced it will eliminate 49 positions, about half through a reduction in its pool of float staff, primarily by not filling vacancies. In a statement quoted by CBC, CKHA said it is “facing financial and operational pressures resulting from rising costs, an aging population, increasing complexity of care, as well as aging infrastructure and equipment.” The alliance said the reductions are part of a multi‑year financial recovery plan.

In 2025, OHA called on the author of a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report concerning the provincial government's use of private staffing agencies to withdraw the publication. That’s because the report contains inaccurate assertions, according to Kirk LeMessurier, chief of communications and public affairs at the OHA.

The CCPA report—authored by Andrew Longhurst, researcher and political economist—claims that Ontario's public hospitals paid for-profit agencies $9.2 billion for services between 2013–14 and 2022–23.

Government response and critics’ concerns

Health Minister Sylvia Jones has defended the three‑year planning exercise. In an interview reported by CBC, she said the process “has been going well,” while acknowledging the disruption it is causing inside organisations.

“Change is always hard,” Jones said. “But when I look at some of the leadership that has come out of organizations like Ottawa, like London, where they are able to clearly articulate the reason for the change, the why we are doing it. As long as the focus is on front-line patient care, I think that we are going in the right direction.” A spokesperson told CBC the changes “are not expected to impact patient care or access to services.”

Opposition parties and labour leaders dispute that claim. NDP health critic France Gélinas told CBC that, “Every time you lose a nurse, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a (personal support worker) ... a lab tech — every time you lose a person, it affects care.” Ontario Nurses’ Association president Erin Ariss said nurses often “bear the brunt” of hospital cuts and are being treated “as a commodity, rather than a skilled professional.”

Liberal hospitals critic Lee Fairclough, a former hospital president, told CBC the current reductions reflect long‑term funding pressures. “I think that the situation that we've been seeing building in the hospitals is now becoming the reality,” she said, adding that about $29 million spent on a private aircraft for Premier Doug Ford’s use could pay a year’s salary for at least 300 nurses.

Late in March, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) also Ford government’s 2026 budget.

They claimed that the real dollar hospital funding cut announced in the provincial budget will “intensify the crisis in Ontario’s hospitals, which are already funded at the lowest rate in the country”. 

“The government increased hospital funding by 4% – a real cut of 2%when measured against the six per cent increase in costs related to an ageing and growing population. This funding shortfall compounds a 2% cut in the 2025 fiscal year,” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, representing 45,000 staff.

Hurley said that the Ontario hospital system has not been meeting its own targets due to funding constraints: ER patients are currently waiting on average of 20 hours for admission, (well beyond the eight hour target time); surgical wait-times have increased 100% since 2019; while hospital overcrowding has shot up by since the Ontario PCs came into power in 2018.

Previously, Quebec’s Bill 2 led to more applicants to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, according to a previous report.