Ottawa patients face longer waits despite billions in health spending
Median wait times for eight of 12 priority procedures tracked by the Canadian Institute for Health Information increased between 2017 and 2025, even as the province poured billions of dollars into private, for-profit clinics.
The report, titled "Not adding up: Surgical and diagnostic privatization in Ontario," was published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and written by senior researcher Andrew Longhurst. Longhurst said the pattern is no accident. "Since the provincial government has prioritized for-profit surgical and diagnostic delivery over the expansion of public sector capacity and improvement, wait times are generally increasing in Ontario," he wrote.
MRI waits up more than a third
The numbers show a mixed picture depending on the procedure. MRI scan median wait times rose from 35 days in 2017 to 47 days in 2025, a 34 percent increase, one of the steeper jumps in the data. Cataract surgery wait times barely budged, going from 67 days to 68 days, despite a 185 percent increase in public payments to Independent Community Health Surgical Centres for ophthalmologic procedures over the same period.
Not every category got worse. Hip replacement median wait times actually fell, from 82 days to 76 days, a 7 percent decrease, and knee replacement times dropped from 92 days to 81 days, a 12 percent decrease, between 2017 and 2025.
Where the money went
The report tracked how much public money has flowed to for-profit facilities. The Ontario government paid these facilities a cumulative $4.1 billion between 2017-18 and 2024-25. Funding for for-profit surgical and medical imaging work reached $674 million in 2024-25, up 48 percent from $457 million in 2017-18, though that still represents a small slice of the province's $77.9 billion overall health budget.
Province defends its record
"Ontario is proud to lead the country with the lowest wait times for joint surgeries, like hips and knees, and we are continuing to make record investments to keep times down, including $101 billion in our healthcare system this year alone, a 64 percent increase from 2018," Barnes said.
That defence lines up with the report's own hip and knee numbers, which did improve over the period, even as most other tracked procedures got slower.
What it means for Ottawa
For Ottawa residents waiting on an MRI referral or a specialist consult, the report is a reminder that provincial spending increases have not translated evenly into shorter waits across the board.
Sources: CP24, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
