‘Emergency department wait times are a canary in a coal mine for health system performance,’ says Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives official
Emergency room wait times have lengthened in Ontario hospitals, says the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
At a media conference held Thursday morning in Barrie, the CCPA said that, provincially, ER wait times increased 52 per cent during 2020-21 to 2024-25 for hospital admission, and 67 per cent for a physician assessment.
This includes Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie, Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and Georgian Bay General Hospital in Midland.
CCPA senior researcher Andrew Longhurst said ER wait times are an important indicator.
“Emergency department wait times are a canary in a coal mine for health system performance,” he said. “Emergency departments with long wait times and over-crowding signal that the overall health system is struggling to keep up with patient demand for care.”
Longhurst said that during the last three years, CCPA research shows that predictable increases in Ontario hospital costs are being met with consistent underfunding from the provincial government.
“When hospital funding increases fall below the required six per cent, the health-care needs of the population go unmet,” he said. “It’s a preventable crisis, and it is only deepening.”
Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said the sharp increase in provincewide wait times occurred before the latest round of hospital job cuts, beginning at the end of last year.
“By any metric, our hospitals require a substantial increase in staffing and capacity to improve wait times, reduce hallway medicine and enhance the quality of patient care,” she said. “However, the government’s stubborn refusal to meet rising hospital costs is taking us backwards whereby jobs are being eliminated every day even as staffing shortages suffocate the system.”
Longhurst’s May 2026 report, Failure, By Design, details what he calls Ontario’s deepening hospital funding crisis.
“We strongly recommend that the provincial government implement an aggressive plan to address the hospital funding and capacity crisis, rather than laying off staff,” he said. “Hospitals need certainty in funding levels, which should increase by six per cent annually.
“Without this, the consequences are disastrous for patients,” Longhurst added.
He said $3.2 billion is required to stabilize hospital finances across Ontario, just to maintain 2025 service levels.
“We know that the longer patients wait in the emergency department the greater the risk of poor outcomes,” Longhurst said. “We know from the data Ontario spends the least per capital on its hospital sector compared to other provinces. It’s in last place.”
The CCPA bills itself as a non-partisan research institute producing research and analysis to help policy-makers, activists, and Canadians make informed decisions.
Source: Canadian Centre for policy Alternatives.