Union officials say a hospital crisis has reached a boiling point when it comes to day-to-day expenses, and more provincial support is urgently needed.
In a statement issued late last week, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions says health care organizations have seen a massive drop in their working capital, including the cost of payroll and medical supplies, citing a negative $18 million working capital at the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance.
“Hospitals need six percent annual increases simply to maintain services,” says Michael Hurley, President of OCHU/CUPE, in a news release. “The Ford government has cut hospital budgets in real terms, year after year, resulting in a loss of beds and staff in the face of significant utilization pressures from an aging population.”
The report says province-wide, hospital operating deficits reached over $400 million in 2025, and despite dramatically lower staffing levels than the rest of the country, Ontario hospitals are managing their shortfalls by actively cutting workers. CUPE officials say CKHA needed 332 more full-time staff to match the capacity of other provinces.
In his most recent fiscal update to the media, CKHA President and CEO Adam Topp said the hospital had reduced its operating deficit by 55 per cent year-over-year from $13.5 million to $6 million.
“Funding cuts are driving the staffing crisis facing Ontario hospitals,” Hurley added. “We’ve seen emergency rooms across the province regularly forced to close, and wait times everywhere are continuing to rise. Patients are suffering. It’s unacceptable.”
The union is calling for an additional $5 billion in provincial funding in order to make up for the growing lack of capacity and capital to adequately staff facilities and treat patients.
Officials say the province could help even further by providing multi-year funding, a halt to privatization, and the implementation of nurse-to-patient ratios.
