The Ontario NDP is demanding urgent changes to hospital funding after the Investigative Journalism Bureau reported hospital operating budgets were in deficit to the tune of more than half a billion dollars in the last fiscal year. A 2025 spending review from the province’s Fiscal Accountability Office concluded the government’s proposed hospital funding would not be sufficient to maintain the current level of hospital services without further investments or new efficiencies. Health care is Ontario’s biggest cost item: about 40 per cent of the provincial operating budget, or approximately $90 billion. The Progressive Conservative government has not responded to questions about hospital borrowing from the IJB. The NDP wants changes to funding for the hospital sector, including addressing the effects of hospital deficits on staffing and patient care, and the need for longer-term planning.

Source: National Post February 05, 2026 19:28 UTC