TORONTO, ON., May 15, 2025 – The Ford government’s 2025 budget is a complete flatline for nurses, health-care professionals and Ontario’s public health-care system, says the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA). Instead, the budget continues to cut revenue needed by the provincial coffers, funnel scant health-care dollars to private corporations and for-profit providers while starving the public system of much-needed funding and initiatives to solve the nursing shortage.

“Premier Ford is trying bring in American-style health care by systematically increasing the role of private, for-profit corporations at the expense of our public system,” says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. “Again and again, we see our health-care dollars go to Ford’s developer friends for health-care infrastructure projects and private interests while he starves our public health care of funding.

“Bricks-and-mortar projects do not increase care, more public-sector nurses and health-care professionals do. And the $280 million promised in this budget to expand private clinics is a major red flag Ontarians should be very concerned about. We don’t want our tax dollars being used to line the pockets of corporate interests.”

ONA’s recommendations for this year’s budget were clear, achievable and effective. Funding and legislating safe nurse-to-patient ratios across Ontario would solve staffing shortages and reduce or eliminate the outrageous bill taxpayers are footing for private, for-profit agencies.

This year’s budget promises to increase the number of nurses in the province by 2,000 – when at least 26,000 are needed to reach the national per-capita average. Ariss adds, “If we want accessible health care, we can’t only focus on recruiting, we need to retain and bring back nurses who have left; mandating nursing ratios – as other provinces are doing – will do this.”

ONA says this government should protect quality care by ending the practice of replacing registered nurses, fully integrating nurse practitioners across the continuum of care, harmonizing nurse wages across all sectors, and increasing funding to public health in communities across the province. The budget does none of this.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

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