The Ontario government favours for-profit delivery of surgeries and medical imaging, but the evidence shows this isn’t good health policy
By Andrew Longhurst
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA)
September 28, 2026
The Ontario government is aggressively promoting greater for-profit involvement in health care delivery. The most pronounced shift in this policy direction came in 2023 with the passage of Bill 60 (Your Health Act)—an omnibus bill intended to support the provincial government’s expansion of for-profit health care in the province.
In 2025, the provincial government awarded $280 million for newly licensed for-profit facilities to perform orthopedic surgeries and medical imaging—the largest injection of public funds into for-profit facilities outside of Quebec.
This research study analyzes how the Ontario government’s policy direction favours the for-profit surgical and medical imaging industry over public hospitals and evaluates whether this policy direction is reducing wait times and serving the public interest.
Analysis of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and publicly available data shows the following:
There are 918 licensed integrated community health services centres (ICHSCs, previously called independent health facilities) operating in Ontario—an increase from 902 facilities in 2023.
Most services provided in ICHSCs are medical imaging, including diagnostic ultrasound (41 per cent) and radiography (21 per cent). Twenty-one ICHSCs are contracted by the Ministry of Health to perform plastic surgeries (eight facilities), eye surgeries (six facilities), and CT and MRI scans (seven facilities). Two private hospitals—Don Mills Surgical Unit and Shouldice Hospital—perform multiple surgical procedures and hernia repairs, respectively.
In 2024-25, three per cent of total day surgeries in Ontario were outsourced to for-profit facilities, both ICHSCs and private hospitals.
Download PDF
Read more at CCPA
