Ontario awards licences for publicly funded, privately operated diagnostic centres

The Ford government has announced that 57 new privately operated surgical and diagnostic centres will be brought online and integrated into the public health system as it tries to reduce wait times.
On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unveiled the first new privately operated facility to be given an operating licence — a new building in Richmond Hill, Ont., which will be run as a non-profit.
As part of the creation of 57 new privately run facilities — referred to by the government as community surgical and diagnostic centres — Ontario will chip in a total $155 million over two years.
“The 57 new centres we are rolling out across Ontario will make a huge difference for people in the province, helping them get the care they need, when they need it,” Ford said in a statement.
“It’s all part of our plan to protect and improve our health-care services, all while ensuring people always receive the care they need with their OHIP card.”

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Thirty-five of the centres have been licensed to offer MRI and CT scans, while another 22 will deal with GI endoscopy procedures.
Ontario NDP MPP France Gélinas said the announcement was a step in the wrong direction.
“That is public money going into private hands instead of our local hospitals, where help is desperately needed,”
“This model of private delivery with public dollars is alarming and unfair. Study after study shows that private clinics benefit the wealthiest, while leaving the rest of us behind.
That is public money going into private hands instead of our local hospitals, where help is desperately needed. All of this has been made possible through Bill 60.
“This model of private delivery with public dollars is alarming and unfair. Study after study shows that private clinics benefit the wealthiest, while leaving the rest of us behind.
Ford made Friday’s announcement at the Schroeder Ambulatory Centre in Richmond Hill, which received the first such licence to operate a new centre. It will get $14 million from the province and provide MRIs, CT scans and endoscopy procedures to 115,000 patients over two years.
The Walter and Maria Schroeder Foundation committed $300 million for the new centre.
Health Minister Sylvia Jones said no special favours were given to the new ambulatory centre, which was built without assurance it would be granted a licence if it applied.
The new centres will help alleviate the strain on public hospitals, the provincial government said. The premier said that “hospitals are at full capacity, but this will relieve them.”
Announcing the licences marks a major checkpoint on a plan the government announced in 2023 to expand the role of privately delivered, publicly funded operators in the health-care system.
The plan — titled Your Health — was announced at the beginning of 2023, with legislation to support it passed during the spring. In the year that has followed, the government has been working through details of how it will manage oversight of new private clinics.
— with files from The Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.


A court document shows a Lindsay, Ont., man facing charges for allegedly breaking into an apartment was carrying a crossbow when he was confronted by a tenant.
The resident, Jeremy David McDonald, is also facing assault charges in the incident on Aug. 18 — a fact that has generated widespread interest in the case.
Police information filed in court alleges that Michael Kyle Breen damaged a window and screen at McDonald’s home and carried a crossbow.
The court document says the 41-year-old Breen is charged with break and enter, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief under $5,000 and failing to comply with a probation order.

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Police have said that Breen, who is scheduled to appear in court for a bail hearing next week, was already wanted for unrelated offences.
McDonald, the 44-year-old resident, was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after he allegedly “did endanger the life” of Breen.
Premier Doug Ford blasted the decision to charge the apartment resident, saying last week that it shows “something is broken.”
Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Kirk Robertson wrote in a statement Wednesday that he recognizes the incident has generated significant public interest and “emotional” responses, but called some of the reaction “unjust and inaccurate.”
Robertson wrote that individuals have the right to defend themselves and their property, but the law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced.
“This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances,” he wrote.
© 2025 The Canadian Press

The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling that upheld a First Nation’s ownership of a stretch of land at a popular Ontario beach after a lengthy dispute.
Canada’s top court has dismissed the appeal request from landowners and the province after a stretch of land along Sauble Beach was returned to Saugeen First Nation in 2023.

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This dismissal comes nearly two months after members of Saugeen First Nation changed the iconic “Welcome to Sauble Beach” sign that greeted beach visitors.
The temporary “Welcome to Saugeen Beach” sign was erected to reflect the First Nation’s ownership of the land, with the town’s mayor expressing disappointment that he wasn’t alerted of the change.
The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld last December the decision that 2.2 kilometres of the coastline in South Bruce Peninsula was incorrectly surveyed 170 years ago.
The portion of the land is valuable fishing ground for the First Nation community and was surrendered in 1854 in an agreement with the Crown to give up portions of Bruce Peninsula.
© 2025 The Canadian Press

The majority of post-secondary students in Ontario are stressed about their finances heading into the school year, a new survey found.
The survey from TD Bank, which collected data from post-secondary students across the country, found that 92 per cent of all respondents in Ontario are stressed about their finances.
“The survey was clear that our students are experiencing a lot of stress, which is a bit unique from previous generations because of the multitude of factors that are just hypersensitive at this point, with higher unemployment, higher cost of living, higher tuition,” says Joe Moghaizel, vice-president of everyday advice journey at TD.
The survey found that while 78 per cent of Ontario parents believe their child has experienced financial stress in the past three months, that figure was well below the actual number of 92 per cent.
“What’s interesting is the amount of pressure and stress that they’re currently facing and feeling, and the disconnect between what their parents believe they’re experiencing,” Moghaizel says. “Parents were not aware of the amount of stress that the students are feeling.”
Moghaizel pointed to a number of things leading to this financial pressure, including the high cost of living and high rate of unemployment among young people in a difficult job market, leading to many students to have what he called a volatile income.

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The survey also found that Ontario had the highest percentage of students stressed about tuition costs at 35 per cent, compared with an average of 26 per cent in other provinces.
The government of Canada estimates it will take almost 10 years for the average student to pay off their student loans and the total student loan debt in Canada surpassed $23.5 billion in 2022.
“You go back to over two decades ago, when I was in school, the financial pressures that students deal with now are significantly higher because tuition is a lot more expensive and the cost of living is more expensive, and inflation has really taken a bite at students,” Moghaizel says.
Another key takeaway from the survey was that 36 per cent of all respondents found that social spending stressed them out the most.
Moghaizel says the social pressure speaks to the online environment that students find themselves in today, where everything they do is shared online.
“They all feel the pressure to spend and keep up, which, again, it’s not too dissimilar from other age groups and we’re keeping up with the Joneses and just keeping up with the spending habit of your circle creates a bit of pressure,” he says.
Moghaizel says this can leave post-secondary students feeling ill-equipped to manage their finances better.
Despite the concern, Moghaizel hopes this information is not discouraging to students and is an opportunity to start establishing good financial habits early in life.
He said that with societal pressures, it’s good for students to understand their needs versus their wants, and focus on prioritizing the necessities. Moghaizel says that through tracking their spending, students can see where all of their money is going.
“We want to make sure that we’re equipping students with the right understanding of financial knowledge for the products and services,” Moghaizel says.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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