Ford infrastructure announcement for Scarborough Health Network leaves hospital facing cuts to staff and services in its underfunded operating budget – CUPE

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Just a week after Scarborough Health Network (SHN) workers held a rally surrounding chronic understaffing and increasing violence against hospital workers, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced Tuesday that the Ontario government would begin construction of a new emergency department at Centenary Hospital.

2,500 frontline workers at the SHN, represented by CUPE, are facing heightened staffing issues in the face of growing job cuts in the sector. They are currently battling a $36 million deficit.

This new announcement did not include contributions to operating funding, nor address the shortfall.

“Expanding the emergency department won’t fix wait-times if staffing remains unaddressed,” said Stacy James, president of CUPE 5852. “Lack of resources and staff shortages are creating unsafe conditions for workers and patients alike. Staff are mentally and physically exhausted from carrying the load. We need to invest in fixing these issues before building new infrastructure.”

In September 2025, the province required hospitals in deficit to submit three-year spending reduction plans to address growing shortfalls and balance their budgets. This has resulted in 1,300 job cuts across the sector in the last year alone. Many hospitals have been forced to borrow money in order to cover daily expenses, including medical supplies and payroll.

The union is calling on the provincial government to cover the hospitals’ deficit and increase operating funding to address growing cost pressures.

“You can’t leapfrog the hospital staffing crisis by pouring money into new infrastructure, while cutting existing hospital operating budgets in real terms. Scarborough is densely populated and underserviced in hospital care and these additional beds are needed, but not as an alternative to properly funding the existing services,” said Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), which represents 46,000 hospital workers across the province. “Without their deficit being covered, SHN will have to cut staff and services- it’s that simple. In that respect this announcement is a cruel distraction, not a solution.”

SHN’s work force is predominantly made up of women and racialized staff, who are already facing increased workplace violence as a result of the staffing shortage. A survey of SHN workers conducted by CUPE in late 2025 found that 42 percent of respondents had experienced violence in the workplace firsthand – with 20 percent reporting that they had been physically assaulted. Violent incidents increase when patients are agitated due to long wait-times and insufficient care in understaffed – and often overcrowded – hospital units.

Earlier on Tuesday, OCHU/CUPE released its newest report Pushed over the brink: the escalating assault on Ontario’s hospitals. The union’s research found that hospital working capital in the province has fallen by more than $2.2 billion over the past six years.

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