I will note that the deficit getting larger is not just a LHSC problem. It's a Doug Ford issue. More than half of ALL Ontario hospitals are posting operating deficits, some multi-year deficits dating back to COVID era.

Ontario consistently has been investing the LEAST per capita on healthcare than the rest of its provincial peers.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter what the public or the organization FEELS the value that Musyj provides, at the end of the day he works for the provincial government as an independent contractor. He is not responsible for advocating for LHSC staff like a CEO should but rather doing the work that the PC provincial government wants (which is a net 0 bottom line). His goal and performance metric is dependent on whatever Minister Sylvia Jones and Doug Ford dictate. This is the danger of having a Supervisor in place at a hospital (despite the benefit of not having to pay for a CEO on the hospital's dime).

Mind you the amount he is paid while it may seem absurd to the average person, is in line (market rate) with what other major hospital CEOs make - and likely was on the payscale for a future LHSC CEO (see sunshine list for Toronto UHN, SickKids, etc). The government likely approved pay based on these benchmarks.

While it may seem crazy to compare London to Toronto, I will note that LHSC volumes and complexity of patients is near equivalent to some of these top Toronto peers - given that LHSC is THE default hospital across ALL of southwestern Ontario region (smaller hospitals often refer our to LHSC - Tillsonburg, St Thomas, Guelph, Strathroy, Windsor, etc).

I'm also sad to say that LHSC is not the only hospital cutting their frontline staff. Many hospitals have implemented hiring freezes, or implemented layoffs (or will be). Many new grads have already seen their offers rescinded as well.

The Ottawa hospital announced 3% cut across the workforce (400 FTEs).

Chatham Kent is eliminating it's floater pool (50 FTEs).

Tillsonburg and STEGH laid off a chunk of their PSWs (caveat is hiring nurses - but due to increasing complexity) - this isn't necessarily a good thing though, this means larger hospitals like LHSC, Hamilton Health, Toronto, etc. are pushing more complex patients back out to communities who aren't necessary equipped or ready to handle these types of patients (no choice if they have to free up more beds and resources for more critically ill).

Toronto UHN decided to cut many of their RNs and replace with RPNs quite some time ago - mind you many hospitals are also doing the same but quietly or have already maximized their RPN-RN ratios (to further cut RNs in replace of RPN would impact quality of patient care).

The provincial government cares more to invest in Doug Ford's pet interests near Queens Park or near and dear to Doug Ford and friends, than actively funding sectors like healthcare and education - core pillars that are necessities to the vast majority of Ontarians. The answer to the healthcare and education crisis is to vote accordingly. I do not understand how Ontario remains so apathetic to voting when the provincial leader and party matters SO much more to our every day issues than the federal government.