MPPs echo union concerns about threats to staffing and beds<\/p>\n
Published Feb 12, 2026 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 3 minute read<\/p>\n
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Emergency department entrance at Health Sciences North in Sudbury. Photo by John Lappa\/Sudbury StarArticle content<\/p>\n
The province is pushing back on alarms raised by CUPE that beds and jobs could disappear at Health Sciences North, while local MPPs are echoing the union\u2019s concerns.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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At a press conference in Sudbury on Tuesday, representatives of CUPE and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions predicted about 135 nurses and PSWs in Sudbury could lose their jobs, while 35 staffed hospital beds are in jeopardy at HSN.<\/p>\n
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The union blamed a government plan to cap annual funding increases for hospitals at two per cent over the next three years, which it said falls far short of the six per cent average since 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt least 1,000 jobs are already being eliminated in hospitals in North Bay, Hamilton, Ottawa, Niagara and the GTA,\u201d said CUPE in a release.<\/p>\n
According to the Ministry of Health, however, the changes currently being made by hospitals \u201caddress non-clinical, administrative functions\u201d to improve efficiency, and do not affect patient care.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe claims made in this (CUPE) release are misguided,\u201d said ministry spokesperson Satnam Grewal. \u201cOntario is proud to have one of the largest publicly funded health-care systems in the world, with the largest health-care workforce in Canada, and we continue to make record investments in our health-care system, including investing $91.5 billion this year alone, a $30-billion increase since 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Sudbury alone, the province is investing more than $2 million in Interprofessional Primary Care Teams \u201cto attach over 5,500 people to primary care,\u201d said Grewal, adding this is on top of a $900,000 infusion for IPCTs in 2024 \u201cto serve more than 900 patients in the Sudbury area. Since 2018, we have also increased funding for Health Sciences North by over 35 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Grewal said spending in the hospital sector has gone up by four per cent for \u201can unprecedented third year in a row,\u201d and annual hospital support since 2018 has increased by 52 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is in addition to a $60-billion plan for health-care infrastructure across the province, the 50 new MRI and CT machines we have added, over 100,000 new nurses and nearly 20,000 new physicians that have joined the workforce since 2018 who continue to support hospitals across the province,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
CUPE argues such investments still don\u2019t meet the needs of Ontarians, whose hospitals are funded and staffed \u201cat the lowest rate across Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
Doug Allan, who authored a new CUPE report titled On The Brink, said \u201ca significant increase in beds and staffing levels\u201d is required. \u201cWe need this to end the backlogs, delays, and to reduce hallway health care as the (Doug) 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Local MPPs Jamie West and France Gelinas said the CUPE warning about a potential loss of hospital workers and beds needs to be taken seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese aren\u2019t just numbers on a page,\u201d said West in a joint statement issued the NDP members. \u201cThese are the hard-working frontline health-care workers who provide care and support to our loved ones. Northern communities are already stretched thin.\u201d<\/p>\n
People in our area are \u201ctired of being forgotten and forced to pick up the pieces of a system that needs more support, not cuts,\u201d said West. \u201cWorkers across our hospitals deserve better from this Conservative government as they continue to worsen hallway medicine and allow layoffs, like the Liberals before them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gelinas, who serves as health critic for her party, said what\u2019s happening in Sudbury is a symptom of a much bigger problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cFord and his government are starving our health-care system of the funding it desperately needs and the North is feeling the deepest impacts of those choices,\u201d she said. \u201cMake no mistake, these are calculated choices by this Conservative government. When hospitals are forced to cut staff and beds, we see longer waits, hallway health care and communities losing the care they count on.\u201d<\/p>\n
sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca<\/p>\n
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