spending being \u201cunsustainable,\u201d <\/a>Longhurst said it\u2019s worse in the north,<\/p>\n\u201cThe fact that hospitals in northern Ontario are the ones bearing the brunt of the funding crisis coming down from Queen\u2019s Park,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not seeing the hospital staff capacity that\u2019s needed to reduce wait times. The cost pressures are increasing at about six percent for the hospital sector, this comes from the Ontario Hospital Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe provincial government is saying we will only see a four percent increase in base and targeted funding. So, there is a (funding) gap there that the provincial government is refusing to put those dollars there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Failure, By Design also reports that total Ontario health care spending merely rose to 7.6 percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product in 2023 from 7.4 percent of GDP in 2014. Even still, Ontario ranked last in per-capita hospital and total health care spending in Canada in 2023.<\/p>\n
Richer said the hospital division of CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees), says that the sharp increase in province-wide wait-times occurred before the latest round of hospital job cuts beginning at the end of last year, including 40 job cuts in North Bay. Richer believes the health care situation is getting worse.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the government\u2019s 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,\u201d said Richer, who joined Longhurst at the press conference at the North Bay Public Library. \u201cThe political choice to starve our public hospitals is a failure by design.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The report concludes: \u201cWe strongly recommend that the provincial government implement an aggressive plan to address the hospital funding and capacity crisis \u2014 rather than laying off staff. Hospitals need certainty in funding levels, which should increase by six percent annually. Without this, the consequences are disastrous for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Minister of Health and Deputy Premier, Sylvia Jones, refuted many of the statements made by the hospital union researcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe claims made in the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives\u2019 report are misguided,\u201d says the health ministry spokesperson.<\/p>\n
\u201cOntario has one of the largest publicly funded healthcare systems in the world, and our government is investing over $101 billion this year alone, including a four percent increase in the hospital sector for the fourth consecutive year, to connect people to the care they need when they need it. Since 2018, we\u2019ve also increased funding for North Bay Regional Health Centre by over 35 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The response from the health minister\u2019s office also targeted statement about staffing issues at Ontario\u2019s hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have one of the largest healthcare workforces in Canada, adding over 100,000 new nurses and nearly 20,000 new physicians since 2018, some of the shortest wait times for critical procedures, reducing the annual total volume of ED visits by nearly 200,000, with over 83 percent of people receiving surgery within the clinically recommended times, and the highest primary care attachment rate in the country,\u201d said the ministry spokesperson.<\/p>\n
The government claims it is expanding health care facilities all over Ontario.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to build on this progress by getting shovels in the ground for over 50 hospital redevelopment projects, adding new MRI and CT machines in communities across the province, upskilling nurses to work in emergency departments, expanding programs like Learn and Stay and, taking bold action to make it easier to access care in the community, including allowing pharmacists to treat common ailments and our plan to connect every person to a primary care provider by 2029,\u201d the health minister spokesperson concluded.<\/p>\n
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![\"Hospital](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/hospital-newser.jpg\")
Sharon Richer, secretary-treasurer of Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, and report author Andrew Longhurst made a stop in North Bay to decry the state of health in the province and especially in northern Ontario. May 20,2026 Photo by GREG ESTABROOKSArticle content<\/p>\n