The workers at Bruyere Health have found strong community support in their campaign to stop the degradation of care at their hospital, where 55 frontline jobs are being axed. Over the past few weeks, 1,400 people have signed a petition imploring hospital management to “Stop the Cuts.”
On September 10, CUPE 4540 held a rally outside the hospital and later presented a blown-up version of the petition to management. The rally was supported by sister Locals within the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE).
In March, the hospital announced it will be eliminating 9 registered practical nurses (RPN) and 46 personal care aide (PCA) positions. The PCA cuts represent 30 per cent of the workers assisting patients with activities of daily living including walking, toileting, and bathing.
Douglas Currier, registered practical nurse and president of CUPE 4540, representing 875 staff at Bruyere, says these drastic measures take away from the goal of providing safe patient care. He said the PCA cuts shift the burden of providing personal care to RPNs, who are already stretched thin due to their own workload issues. In a December 2025 CUPE survey, 67 per cent staff reported working through their scheduled breaks.
The cuts at Bruyere are part of a broader trend of about 2,000 layoffs in the hospital sector because of provincial austerity policies. While hospitals say costs are rising by 6 per cent annually, the Ford government has merely allocated a 3.3 per cent funding increase for 2026-27 – a real dollar funding cut accounting for inflation.
“The Ford government has taken a wrecking ball to our health care system that we condemn in the strongest terms,” said Currier.
“I have spoken with hundreds of frontline staff, and they are beyond exasperated by these unconscionable decisions. These changes are intensifying workloads and will lead to more injuries and workplace violence, and poorer quality of care,” he added.
Currier said that while government funding cuts are the main problem, the hospital management should have explored other avenues to reduce its fiscal deficit.
Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE), said that the government’s constant drive to reduce health care spending was badly hurting communities that desperately rely on local hospitals like Bruyere. Ontario has the lowest per-person hospital spending in Canada.
“The population in this community is growing and aging, but their local hospitals are being choked of funding in the face of rising demand,” he said.
“The cuts at Elisabeth-Bruyere hit a particularly vulnerable patient population. These cuts withdraw thousands of hours of personal and nursing care from patients with very complex medical conditions, many of whom are permanently bedridden. The Ford government must be held to account for the consequences of their hospital funding cutbacks.”
The successful petition drive shows that the community and workers are united in this fight, and they will continue campaigning to improve services at Bruyere, Currier said.
