Hospitals in Ontario, North Bay’s included, are severely underfunded, and the detrimental effects of this underfunding will only increase over the years, a new report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) explained.
The report, written by Doug Allan, a senior researcher with CUPE, reveals that at the current levels of provincial funding, taxpayers will see fewer hospital staff, increased violence toward existing staff from patients, fewer bed spaces, and more gurneys in hallways as patients wait for a room.
Allan warned, “We have a crisis in our hospital system right now through years of underfunding. This is going to get much, much worse if the government sticks to its funding plan for this year and for the next two years.”
Allan’s full report, Driven to the Brink: Projected Cuts to Intensify Hospital Crisis, can be read here. The report explains that the number of staffed beds in the province has declined steadily, and to return to the levels we saw 10 years ago, we would need 6,237 more than we have currently.
However, Allan’s research explained that Ontario will lose nearly 2,400 beds by 2027-2028. CUPE estimates that the North Bay Regional Health Centre could lose about 30 staffed beds by 2027-28. Province-wide, about 9,000 nurses and personal support worker positions could be cut in that time as well, and North Bay alone could lose about 110 of those jobs, CUPE’s report detailed.
The report also detailed that the “hallway healthcare,” where patients are treated in halls instead of rooms, has increased. CUPE noted the government vowed to eliminate hallway healthcare in 2018, but the number of patients receiving hallway care increased in that time, from 826 in June 2018 to 1,860 in 2024.
Now, the province has decided stop tracking the problem altogether, CUPE said.
Allan, armed with his latest report, has hit the road to alert the citizenry. Tuesday, he held a press conference in the board room at the North Bay Public Library, at 271 Worthington St. He was joined by Michael Hurley, president of OCHU/CUPE, and Mike Turgeon, president of CUPE 139, which represents North Bay health care workers, 40 of whom are losing their jobs due to cuts.
See: Hospital layoffs to impact 40 positions
The province recently provided nearly $10 million in funding to the hospital last January, and another $15 million in December 2025. It’s not enough, Turgeon emphasized. “Costs are higher than they ever have been in history, and we don’t have enough staff on the front line.”
“Actions speak louder than words,” Turgeon said. “Every time that we’ve sustained the pressure on Mr. Fedeli’s office, he comes out with overnight funding for the hospital, showing that his government understands that hospitals are underfunded and they’ve been trying to get away with it as long as they can.”
See: Province announces $11M boost for area hospitals amid layoffs at North Bay hospital
Turgeon said the unions will continue to shine a light on the issue, as less funding leads to longer waits, fewer staff, and affects the quality of care.
“This is a shocking political decision to cut our hospitals when we need more staff, not fewer,” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE).
“Hospitals could improve access, reduce wait-times, and provide better care by attracting and retaining qualified staff,” Hurley continued. “Instead, the government is choosing to starve our public hospitals with another round of reductions to staffing levels and bed capacity.”
CUPE has outlined a few solutions, including adding 6,200 beds to the province’s hospitals and eliminating hallway medicine. These beds will also allow for aging and population growth, and clear the backlog of people waiting for surgeries.
Increase core hospital funding by $3.2 billion to clear deficits and hire additional staff. The unions also recommended increasing annual funding by an additional six per cent per year on top of the $3.2 billion boost.
“We need this to end the backlogs, delays, and to reduce ‘hallway healthcare’ as the Ford PCs promised in their 2018 election campaign. We also need it to keep up with increasing demand pressures that naturally arise with a growing and aging population,” Allan said.
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.