Ontario has the lowest per-capita hospital spending in the country. Expanding private care will worsen access
January 28, 2026
Written By: Andrew Longhurst
Ontario public hospitals face large deficits even as the provincial government doles out more cash to for-profit providers.
In a submission to the provincial government ahead of the spring budget, the Ontario Hospital Association stated that the hospital sector faces a structural deficit of $1 billion and needs a predictable, multi-year funding plan. This deficit is not surprising—data reveals that the province continues to have the lowest per capita hospital spending in the country at $1,967—behind BC ($2,111), Quebec ($2,113), and Alberta ($2,169).
This has caused Ontario to have one of the most below capacity hospital systems in the industrialized world. Ontario had five per cent fewer hospital beds per 100,000 people in 2022 than in 2009—based on the most recent data available.
And while the hospital sector is being downsized through government funding decisions, Ontario is expanding outsourcing contracts with for-profit surgical facilities. In December, the government announced four new private orthopedic surgery facilities as part of a $125 million scheme over two years to increase for-profit involvement. This is the largest injection of public dollars into for-profit health care in Ontario—and likely Canadian—history.
For investor-owned providers, it’s a time of plenty. For public hospitals, austerity is the order of the day.
Funding decisions are political choices. And the decision to flow dollars to investor-owned facilities comes at the expense of public hospitals.
Despite assurances by the Ontario government that for-profit facilities securing lucrative contracts with the government would have to show how they won’t harm staffing levels in the public system, no concrete guarantees have been made public.
That’s because the introduction of for-profit surgical facilities has only one place to draw specialized staff from: existing public sector staff. There is no secondary workforce waiting in the wings.
Read more at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
