In the past few years, Ontario’s emergency room closures have become epidemic. This fearsome acceleration has sparked outrage and broad condemnation from public health advocates and political leaders alike. In 2022, the province was able to track 146 closures that accumulated a total of 4,233 hours. In 2023, that figure soared, with 184 closures and 2,977 hours. The story was much different in 2024, with just 53 closures and 774 hours of impact. Not providing this information forthwith on the Ontario government’s part is a serious concern. Critics say this erodes not only public safety but knowledge of what government is doing.
The Auditor General of Ontario released her 2023 report that noted, in no uncertain terms, the government’s mismanagement of emergency rooms. The analysis that followed showed that most of these closures were actually limited to distant and rural hospitals. This proved devastating, leaving communities pulled utterly vulnerable during crucial rebuilding periods. As the Auditor General cautions, these closures endanger patients’ lives. As the time it takes to reach one’s nearest available emergency department increases, the accompanying dangers are more acute.
Ontario Health, the province’s healthcare agency, has since reminded hospitals to inform the agency if they’re forced to close any of their major departments to the public. To support this, a detailed policy that’s been in effect since July 2022. Despite the growing impact of these closures, data on these closures is not yet publicly available to anyone in an online database or closure-monitoring dashboard. The Ministry of Health provided data on emergency room closures from July 2022 to the end of 2024 to Global News. Critics, such as France Gelinas, Ontario NDP MPP, say the inability to access these closures renders tracking them an exercise in futility.
Gelinas has for years dogged lawmakers and bureaucrats at legislative hearings on the implementation of the law and the progress of emergency room closures. She said she was most irritated by the lack of early warning communication from the administration about pending closures.
“If the ministry is aware of that information, why has there never been a media advisory telling people, ‘Hey, your emergency room is going to be closed,” – France Gelinas.
Proponents of government involvement claim that they have done all they can to set the stage. They point to record investments – targeted to help rural and northern hospitals – as their strategy. As stated by a government spokesperson:
“Through our government’s record investments to support our rural and northern hospitals, including an increase of four per cent to the hospital sector for a record three years in a row… we have improved reduced hours in hospitals by 90 per cent (July to September 2022 – 2024) with 94 per cent of emergency departments avoiding interruption last summer.”
Even as they make these big claims, serious gaps continue to exist in both communications and actual resource distribution. The Auditor General’s report cited staffing shortages, especially in nursing, as a major factor behind emergency room closures. Prior to 2020, closures of emergency rooms in Ontario were considered “non-existent.” From the summer of 2022 onward, their figures started to increase drastically.
One notable incident involved the Chesley hospital’s emergency room, which was closed from October until December, while the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital’s Perth site experienced closures exceeding 500 hours in July alone. These extended shutdowns have most severely impacted residents that require round-the-clock access to health care, which is what has alarmed many local residents.
As we saw on March 19, 2025, when Sylvia Jones was sworn in as the deputy premier of Ontario, these days are over. In particular, she stressed the importance of making closure data more accessible to the public.
“I want this information to be made available,” – Sylvia Jones.
Undersecretary Jones gave her take on a variety of bureaucratic impediments that threaten to slow public access to this key information.
“If that means I have to request it and they send it to me, I can live with that. If that means I have to file a freedom of information request and be delayed for two years, I’m not OK with that,” – Sylvia Jones.
Engagement continues to find the best practices for reducing emergency room congestion and improving patient security. We agree that increasing transparency will be a fundamental part of solving the big concerns laid out above by government officials and health care advocates alike.
