Ontario hospital plans to cut hundreds of jobs amid province-directed budget plan
Written by The Canadian Press on September 24, 2026
TORONTO — Hamilton Health Sciences is planning to cut more than 400 jobs, a move the hospital network is directly tying to provincial marching orders to balance budgets.
An internal hospital memo says it is looking at a $150 million deficit for 2026-27 and has put about 413 union and non-union jobs on the chopping block, with a third of those positions currently vacant.
President and CEO Tracey MacArthur says in the memo that the hospital network set savings targets of two per cent for clinical budgets and five per cent for administrative budgets this year, as part of the provincial government’s budget balancing process.
The Ministry of Health last year tasked hospitals in the red – which covers the majority in Ontario – with setting three-year plans to eliminate their deficits, telling them to implement any “low-risk” measures immediately.
Hamilton Health Science says as part of its planned job cuts, it expects to eliminate about 143 nursing positions and 84 health-care aide positions, though with a high number of vacancies in those roles it expects “few if any” individuals to lose their jobs.
A spokesperson for Health Minister Sylvia Jones says Hamilton Health Sciences’ changes will not impact patient services or access to care.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2026.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press