Ford's hiring freeze hurts Ontario homecare workers
- CUPE Ontario
- Oct 3, 2025
- 1 min read
Canadian Union of Public Employees
Oct 2, 2025
Doug Ford has once again put Ontario homecare patients last. His announcement on Friday of a hiring freeze for all crown agencies in Ontario, will exacerbate the ongoing workload and staffing shortages being experienced in Ontario’s healthcare system.
The hiring freeze came into effect on September 27, with the government’s press release stating they will be meeting with 143 agencies “over the coming weeks” to ensure that agencies, boards, and commissions, “human resources strategies align with this direction.” This implies that agencies were not given advanced warning that this policy was coming, meaning that public services like Ontario Health atHome will need to pivot to account for this last-minute decision.
Retroactively, meeting with affected agencies shows this government isn’t interested in meaningful consultations with the agencies that deliver services for Ontarians. Despite the government’s blanket claim that staffing in government agencies has risen more than five times the rate of OPS since 2023, the reality is that this 2.3% annual growth does not keep up with the demands placed on the homecare system by population growth and aging, to speak nothing of other government directives to divert patients from hospitals.
Ontario Health atHome workers already struggle to keep up with daunting caseloads and short staffing. This ongoing issue with understaffing of front-line services in homecare will only be made worse by Ford’s decision to freeze hiring.