We’re already facing the consequences of two-tier health care. Doug Ford is opening the door to make it even worse.
- Lhamo Dolkar
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Jan. 20, 2026
By Lhamo Dolkar and Doris Grinspun, Contributors
Lhamo Dolkar is a practicing NP and the president of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). Dr. Doris Grinspun is RNAO’s chief executive officer.
Alberta’s push toward for-profit health care has been making headlines, drawing criticism and public concern. But while attention has focused westward, Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones have quietly been moving Ontario toward profitization.
The Ontario government’s decision to increase the number of orthopedic surgeries by funneling tax dollars to private clinics continues with the troubling shift in how surgical care will be delivered in this province. While reducing wait times is a goal we all share, funding private, for-profit expansion while publicly funded operating rooms sit underused and nurses remain unavailable is not the solution.
Four Ontario facilities have been selected to deliver additional hip and knee replacements beginning in 2026. Importantly, some of these facilities already offer, or are positioned to offer, privately paid procedures alongside publicly funded ones. One centre is part of a national, investor-owned chain that openly markets private-pay surgeries, and others have corporate structures well suited to introducing uninsured services. This means patients will receive OHIP-funded care in facilities that simultaneously market faster access or enhanced options to those who can pay — a textbook two-tier arrangement that undermines fairness and public trust.
Ontario’s public hospitals already have the operating and recovery rooms and clinical expertise to expand surgical care. The latest data shows Ontario is short nearly 29,000 registered nurses compared to the rest of Canada. Yet, instead of fixing this, the government is diverting resources to for-profit centres, which risk pulling even more nurses away from delivering complex and emergency care in hospital.
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