FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

28 September 2026

QUEEN’S PARK, ON. – Today, during Committee hearings on the 2026-27 Ministry of Health Estimates, Minister of Health Sylvia Jones refused to commit to maintaining current service levels in hospitals. 

Following a devastating report by the Financial Accountability Office which projected health care funding falls below the rate required to maintain current service levels, MPP Dr. Adil Shamji asked Minister Jones to confirm that she would not allow cuts to hospital beds or health care staffing positions.  

The exchange in Committee proceeded as follows: 

MPP Shamji: You have multiple times tried to discredit the FAO report that came out last week, which projected thousands of cuts, thousands of bed losses over the next three years arising from the massive hospital deficits arising under your watch.  

Can you commit to this committee right here and right now that under your watch, there will be no service cuts to staffing or bed levels in hospitals in the next three years? Yes or no? 

Minister Jones: What I would like to commit—and I will commit—is that we are actively engaged with our hospital partners on regional tables, ensuring that their path to balance is laser focused on front-line patient care. 

MPP Shamji: So, you will not commit to that. How many bed cuts and layoffs are acceptable to you? 

Minister Jones: I would like Deputy Richardson to highlight specifically work we are doing in the big program. If you would, Deputy Richardson. 

The Chair (MPP Riddell): Thank you. I will now go on to the independent member. 

 In response to this exchange, MPP Dr. Adil Shamji issued the following statement: 

It is alarming that the Minister of Health refuses to provide assurance that there will not be service cuts in health care, at a time when the majority of hospitals in Ontario are reporting deficits and recently reported data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information shows that wait times for priority procedures are going up.

Sylvia Jones and Doug Ford once claimed that the status quo in health care was unacceptable – so instead they made it worse,” said Shamji. “Now, they’re showing that the worst is yet to come.