02/18/2026
Yesterday ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN, spoke at a Queen's Park media conference hosted by Ontario NDP. She called attention to recent Ontario’s independent Financial Accountability Office reporting warning of a $10.7 billion shortfall in health care funding by 2027-28 if the FordNation government continues on its current path of cuts and underfunding.
Health-care professionals in Ontario already work under unsafe and unmanageable conditions, where they are constantly understaffed and as a result, face violence in their workplaces every day. This projected shortfall in funding will mean still fewer funded hospital beds, and fewer nurses and health care professionals, even as Ontario's population is increasing.
Ontario’s health-care system cannot sustain any more cuts. More than 60% of Ontario hospitals had a deficit in 2025. Some hospitals were forced to take out loans, paying millions of dollars in interest to private banks. And last year, nearly 700 front-line ONA positions were cut, further weakening our public health-care system.
In her remarks, Erin made it clear that Doug Ford's cuts are putting patients and health-care workers at risk. And she is demanding that this government invest in public health care, close the $10.7 billion funding gap, and invest in the safe staffing ratios the province needs.
