More than 700 nursing , PSW jobs could be cut in Ottawa , says union

cbc.ca · Feb 15, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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OttawaOntario’s largest health-care union is sounding the alarm on impending job cuts and increased wait times if the province fails to increase hospital funding. Hospitals calling on province for additional funding to maintain staff, service Anchal Sharma · CBC News · Posted: Feb 14, 2026 2:15 PM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.The Ford government needs to 'fund the hospitals at their real cost,' says Michael Hurley, president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions, which is part of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)Ontario’s largest health-care union is sounding the alarm on impending job cuts and increased wait times if the province fails to increase hospital funding. In a new report, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) estimates more than 9,000 nursing and personal support worker positions will be cut by 2027-28 — with more than 700 of those jobs being lost in Ottawa. It also projects nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures across the province. “It's going to mean more people on stretchers waiting for admission to beds, and it's going to mean the quality of health care in the hospitals is going to slip again,” said OCHU president Michael Hurley. According to the report, the Ford government told hospitals to expect a two per cent annual increase until 2027-28. It's a sum that the report’s author, Doug Allan, said is well below what’s needed to maintain current services. CBC Investigates2024 worst year for Ontario ER closures, CBC analysis findsQueensway Carleton Hospital pitches expansion to province“Five years ago, hospitals had $2 billion in working capital. Now they have negative working capital. You can't run a system this way,” said Allan, a senior researcher with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).The union is calling on the province to address urgent short-term needs, including a backlog of surgeries and overcrowded waiting rooms, by adding 6,200 staffed beds. It also wants core hospital funding to be increased by $3.2 billion to “clear deficits” and hire more health-care workers. In a statement to CBC, the Ontario Ministry of Health said the province has invested $91.5 billion dollars in health care this year and will continue to invest in the sector.The Ottawa Hospital's General campus is seen from a drone in 2023. In addition to the potential loss of thousands of nursing and personal support worker jobs by 2027-28, the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions is also projecting nearly 2,400 hospital bed closures across the province. (Félix Desroches/CBC)Not accidental, says ONDP criticBut Ontario NDP health critic France Gélinas said that investment is spread across the entire sector, and hospitals aren’t getting enough. “We know hospitals have to borrow money from banks just to be able to pay their employees,” she told Radio-Canada in a French-language interview. Gélinas added she fears the government is paving the way for more privatized health care in the province. “The lack of funding isn’t accidental. It’s because if hospitals aren’t able to meet the needs of the people, the people are going to say we need something else,” she said, pointing to the government’s decision to transfer surgeries to private clinics across the province. Ontario expanding publicly funded private surgical and diagnostic centresHurley also shares that concern. “The government is committed to a market model, and it wants to open the market of surgeries, but the consequences of doing that for individuals are that only the wealthy will actually move to have surgeries more rapidly,” he said, citing a 2024 study from the Canadian Medical Association Journal that found the rate of cataract surgery decreased in public hospitals in Ontario after public funding was expanded for surgeries performed in for-profit centres. To support the long-term health of Ontario’s hospitals, the OCHU says annual funding needs to meet inflation, estimating a six per cent yearly increase is what's required. Hurley is also calling on the Ford government to make good on its 2018 promise to end hallway medicine in the province. “To do that, they need to fund the hospitals at their real cost,” Hurley said. ABOUT THE AUTHORAnchal Sharma is a CBC journalist based in Ottawa. Send her an email at anchal.sharma@cbc.caWith files from Radio-Canada