JASON SETNYK
A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives warns Ontario’s hospital system is under growing strain, with rising emergency room wait times and persistent funding shortfalls contributing to what researchers describe as a “deepening hospital funding crisis.”
The report, Failure, By Design: Ontario’s deepening hospital funding crisis, was authored by CCPA Senior Researcher Andrew Longhurst and examines three years of hospital financial data across the province. While a planned presentation at the Cornwall Public Library was cancelled, Longhurst and Ontario Council of Hospital Unions president Michael Hurley both spoke with Seaway News by phone.
According to the report, 90 per cent of emergency department patients across Ontario spent 44 hours waiting for hospital admission in 2024-25, a 52 per cent increase over five years. Wait times for initial emergency department physician assessment also increased significantly provincewide between 2020 and 2025. Longhurst said the Cornwall Community Hospital experienced a sharp increase in emergency department physician assessment waits over the same period. “There’s been a 104 per cent increase over five years in the wait for 90 per cent of patients for ER initial physician assessment,” Longhurst said. “That’s the time you’re waiting in the emergency department for your initial assessment by a physician.”
According to data cited in the study, the wait for 90 per cent of Cornwall ER patients to receive an initial physician assessment increased from 2.7 hours in 2020-21 to 5.5 hours in 2024-25. The report also found hospital admission wait times for 90 per cent of ER patients at Cornwall Community Hospital rose from 19.2 hours to 31.7 hours over the same period, a 39 per cent increase. Longhurst said the figures reflect mounting pressure on hospitals across Ontario. “It really reflects the immense challenges that Cornwall Community Hospital is under, as well as hospitals across the province,” he said.
The report argues that rising operational costs, estimated at approximately six per cent annually, are not being matched by provincial funding increases, which Longhurst said have generally remained closer to four per cent. “There’s a significant gap in funding that’s being offered from the provincial government,” he said. “When hospital funding increases fall below the required six per cent, the health-care needs of the population go unmet.” The study also examined hospital finances. Cornwall Community Hospital reported surpluses or break-even budgets over the past three years, while both Hôpital Glengarry Memorial Hospital and Winchester District Memorial Hospital reported deficits in at least one of the last three years. Winchester District Memorial Hospital posted deficits in all three years examined.
Longhurst said the consequences of increasing waits extend beyond inconvenience. “What that means is people are in a position where they are second-guessing whether they should go to the hospital,” he said. “They may leave, they may not seek the care that they need.” He added that some patients, particularly those with limited transportation or lower incomes, may not have the option of travelling elsewhere for care. “It’s a source of stress. It’s a source of unnecessary waiting,” Longhurst said. “The last thing that patients want to be facing when you need health care for you and your family is to feel like you have to be waiting upwards of five hours just to know whether you need follow-up care or what your diagnosis is.”
Hurley said staffing shortages and capacity reductions are worsening the situation. “The problem that we have is that the hospitals are being funded at a lower level than their actual operating costs,” Hurley said. “As a result, they are cutting staff and beds. Wait times are growing.” Hurley argued that while the provincial government points to record health-care spending, Ontario continues to rank near the bottom nationally in hospital funding metrics on a per-capita basis. “Dollars are up, it’s absolutely true,” Hurley said. “But in terms of what they buy, they actually buy the least number of beds and staff for hospitals.”
When contacted for comment, Cornwall Community Hospital provided Seaway News with a link to public wait-time data from Health Quality Ontario. “Ultimately the data reported by HQO and CIHI come from the same source – hospitals themselves,” Longhurst said.
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