Ontario hospitals, forced to borrow privately in order to keep the lights on, owed banks more than $70 million in operating loans by the end of fiscal year 2025-26, according to hospital financial statements.
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hospitals → force → statements
With 80 of the 129 Ontario hospital networks posting operating deficits last year, at least $1.45 million in public health-care dollars went to bank interest payments from just eight hospital networks, the Investigative Journalism Bureau found.
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Bureau → post → networks
Niagara Health, for instance, paid about $549,000 in interest on operating loans, said the organization’s spokesperson, Erica Bajer.
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spokesperson → pay → loans
The Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance in southwestern Ontario paid $346,000 in interest on its operating borrowings, according to spokesperson Gerry Rucchin.
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Alliance → pay → Rucchin
CEO Andrew Williams said the institution continues “to focus on minimizing debt servicing costs wherever possible” while focusing on patient care.
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institution → say → care
Strathroy Middlesex Hospital, west of London, Ont., expressed concern in its financial statement about its ability to even continue operating.
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Hospital → express → ability
And 12 Ontario hospital networks, including Scarborough Health Network, North York General Hospital and The Ottawa Hospital collectively increased their borrowing capacity from the previous year by close to $460 million, according to financial statements.
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networks → include → statements
“The only way for them (hospitals) to survive is to borrow money …
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them → survive → money
That’s totally unsustainable,” said Michel Grignon, a health economist at McMaster University in Hamilton.
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Grignon → ’ → Hamilton
“It doesn’t make any sense that taxpayers would simply line the pockets of banks, that’s absolutely not the way it was supposed to work.
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it → make → banks
The need to increase borrowing capacity last year is a “sign hospitals have been cut to the bone,” he said.
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he → increase → bone
Neither the Ontario Ministry of Health, Ontario Health nor Health Minister Sylvia Jones responded to questions about hospital bank borrowing or provincial funding.
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Ministry → respond → borrowing
It doesn't make any sense that taxpayers would simply line the pockets of banks, that's absolutely not the way it was supposed to work
Michel Grignon, health economist
The true value of interest paid on operating loans remains shrouded in secrecy, with some hospitals not disclosing this information in their financial statements.
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hospitals → make → statements
Some declined to provide it to the IJB when asked.
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Some → decline → IJB
A hospital network spokesperson from Waterloo Regional Health Network said she’d been advised not to disclose the hospital’s borrowing details, adding “there is nothing that’s going to serve our purposes.”
Jennifer Lawrance, CEO of Red Lake Margaret Cornehour Memorial Hospital in northwestern Ontario, said she believes it is “ethically wrong that taxpayers should be paying interest” for hospital borrowing.
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taxpayers → say → borrowing
“I’m not suggesting that the hospitals who are borrowing are wrong in doing so,” she added.
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she → suggest → ?
“They’re doing that to keep their doors open, because funding isn’t keeping up with the operational costs.”
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funding → do → costs
One of the biggest percentage deficits recorded this year was from Anson General Hospital in northeastern Ontario, in Iroquois Falls, near Timmins, which finished the year in the red for the fourth consecutive time.
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which → record → time
Asked if the hospital expects to find efficiencies that would return it to a balanced position, Paul Chatelain, CEO of the MIC Group, which includes Anson General Hospital, told the IJB, “We don’t have any fat to trim.”
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We → ask → fat
“Our reserves are not keeping up, they’re almost depleted.”
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they → keep → ?
Ontario law requires hospitals to plan for a balanced budget each year but the province can give special dispensation to end the year in the red.
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province → require → red
Financial records show the province can also provide one-time shortfall funding, including at least $325 million given to 30 hospital networks last fiscal year, according to the IJBs analysis of hospital financial statements.
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province → show → statements
The latest IJB findings come six months after the Ontario government pledged an additional $1.1 billion in funding for hospitals as part of its 2026 budget, up four per cent from the previous year.
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government → come → budget
The Ontario Hospital Association says costs are increasing by six per cent a year, due to an aging population and inflation.
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costs → say → population
David McNeil, CEO of Health Sciences North, in the greater Sudbury region, told the IJB that his hospital had identified $18 million in savings over the past three years, mostly by reducing the use of private agencies to staff nurses.
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hospital → tell → nurses
Still, Health Sciences North, which had total revenues of close to $800 million last year, explicitly states in its financial statements the need to rely on “temporary financing through its existing credit facilities” in the short-term.
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which → have → term
“We would prefer not to have to rely on lines of credit to sustain the operations of the hospital.
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We → prefer → hospital
That’s the fundamental piece and that’s what we’ve been struggling with as an industry,” McNeil told the IJB.
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McNeil → ’ → IJB
“Efficiency itself is not going to be sufficient enough to close the gap between what hospitals need and what they’re spending today.”
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they → go → what
McNeil said his hospital keeps the provincial health ministry “well informed” of its bank borrowing.
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hospital → say → borrowing
Variations in financial reporting across the province’s hospital sector make annual comparisons of indebtedness difficult to monitor.
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comparisons → make → indebtedness
A January IJB investigation found Ontario hospitals paid at least $4 million in interest on borrowing in the fiscal year 2024-2025.
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hospitals → find → year
Nearly $2 million of that was paid by Hamilton Health Sciences.
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million → pay → Sciences
This year, the hospital would not disclose any interest paid on its borrowing for 2025-2026.
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hospital → disclose → 2025
Hamilton Health Sciences financial statements show it owed $40 million on its two operating lines of credits by fiscal year-end and intended to “rely on temporary financing through its existing credit facilities” in the short term.
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it → show → term
Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN) owed close to $9 million on its operating line of credit in March 2026 and paid close to $1 million in interest on this line and its two operating loans.
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Network → owe → line
The hospital reported defaulting on its bank loans in its most recent financial statement.
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hospital → report → statement
The network’s spokesperson, Cassandra Easton, told the IJB the loans did not relate to operating borrowing, but declined to disclose how much interest the network paid on its borrowings to sustain daily operations, saying she’d “been advised not to provide anything further.”
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she → tell → anything
Easton declined to say who provided that directive.
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who → decline → directive
In March, the hospital’s annual financial statement showed it was “in violation of the covenants” relating to several loans.
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it → show → loans
…and 27 more, not listed.
The Aporia
