union president 'shocked' bruyère health cutting 55 front-line health workers
3 minute read
saint-vincent hospital is part of bruyère health, considered eastern ontario’s leading health organization specializing in aging, rehabilitation and complex care, along with elisabeth bruyère hospital, bruyère health greystone and family medicine clinics.
julie oliver
/
postmedia
ottawa’s bruyère health is laying off 55 front-line health workers, according to the union that represents nurses and personal support workers there.
in a release, the ontario council of hospital unions and the canadian union of public employees said the cuts would include 46 personal support workers and nine nurses. those front-line health workers are among 60 layoffs overall at the hospital, the union said.
douglas currier, a registered practical nurse who is president of the cupe union local at bruyère health, said he was shocked to hear about the layoffs, saying patient care at the hospital specializing in aging, rehabilitation and care for those with complex medical conditions was already compromised “due to threadbare staffing.
“it’s mind-boggling to hear about job cuts at our hospital when care is already at a breaking point,” currier said in a statement.
currier, who has worked as a nurse at the hospital for 30 years, said he had never seen the current level of exhaustion among staff.
bruyère had an annual operating deficit of more than $12 million in 2025 — the largest among hospitals in ottawa. it has been running deficits for the past several years, according to data compiled by the investigative journalism bureau.
bruyère health is just the latest ontario hospital to announce front-line staff cuts amid a provincial plan to have debt-ridden hospitals balance their budgets within three years.
ontario’s financial accountability office says the provincial budget plan will result in the loss of 2,400 hospital beds and 9,000 nurses and personal support workers by 2027-28. according to an analysis from the ontario council of hospital unions, that could result in the loss of 735 front-line health workers and up to 200 hospitals beds in ottawa alone over the next two years.
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ontario’s hospitals have among the lowest funding per capita and bed count in canada.
the ontario hospital association has said the province’s hospitals are facing a $1-billion funding gap and recent plans encouraging hospitals to find efficiencies would not fill that gap. more than half of the province’s hospitals had not balanced their books by the end of march 2025, according to the investigative journalism bureau.
ema popovich, spokesperson for provincial health minister sylvia jones, said the province is making record investments in the health-care system including $91.5 billion this year – a $30 billion increase since 2018. that funding includes a four per cent annual increase in hospitals for the third year in a row.
she noted that the province also has a $60 billion plan for healthcare infrastructure and is investing more than $2 billion in primary care, including $7 million for interprofessional primary care teams in ottawa to attach nearly 16,000 patients to primary care.
“we continue to work closely with ontario’s hospitals and hospital partners, including the ontario hospital association, to provide more connected, convenient care and strengthen hospitals across the province.”
bruyère health is considered eastern ontario’s leading health organization specializing in aging, rehabilitation and complex care.
it includes saint-vincent hospital, elisabeth bruyère hospital, bruyère health greystone and family medicine clinics.
bruyère spokesperson jesse cressman-dickinson said 12 of the positions that would be eliminated were currently vacant.
she said the “redeployment process,” which could include reassignment, transfer, voluntary departures and potential layoffs, would align bruyère’s staffing levels with those of similar health care organizations.
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“our priority is our people and those we care for — we’re working together to minimize the impact on our teams and patient care.”
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