Canadians Face Record Health Care Delays, Manitoba Shows Mixed Results

Canadians are grappling with prolonged delays for essential health care, as a new report reveals that patients are waiting an average of over six months from a family doctor referral to treatment. The study, titled Waiting Your Turn: Wait Times for Health Care in Canada, 2025, published by the Fraser Institute, outlines that in 2025, patients faced a median wait time of 28.6 weeks from referral to treatment. This figure, while an improvement from 30.0 weeks in 2024, marks the second-longest wait time in the institute’s 34-year history.

According to Nadeem Esmail, director of health policy studies at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the report, “Remarkably long wait times for medically necessary care have become the defining characteristic of the Canadian health-care experience.” The annual survey is based on feedback from physicians across ten provinces and twelve medical specialties, illustrating that current wait times are now 208% longer than in 1993, when the median wait was just 9.3 weeks.

Manitoba’s Position in the Health Care Landscape

While Manitoba did not rank among the provinces with the shortest overall wait times, it did exhibit better performance concerning the second stage of care, which encompasses the period between seeing a specialist and receiving treatment. In this regard, Manitoba recorded a median wait of 15.7 weeks, making it one of the provinces with shorter waits nationally. Only Ontario (8.5 weeks) and British Columbia (12.4 weeks) reported quicker access during this phase.

Despite this relative success, Manitobans continue to encounter delays earlier in the health care system. Nationally, the wait time between a family doctor’s referral and consultation with a specialist rose slightly in 2025 to 15.3 weeks, reflecting a persistent upward trend that has raised concerns among health officials.

Disparities Across Provinces and Specialties

The report highlights significant disparities in wait times across Canada. Ontario reported the shortest overall median wait time at 19.2 weeks, while New Brunswick faced the longest at 60.9 weeks. Other provinces, such as Prince Edward Island (49.7 weeks) and Nova Scotia (49.0 weeks), also observed patients waiting nearly a full year for care. In total, an estimated 1.4 million Canadians were waiting for medically necessary procedures in 2025.

Wait times varied significantly based on the type of care required. Nationally, patients experienced the longest delays for neurosurgery, averaging 49.9 weeks, and orthopaedic surgery at 48.6 weeks. These procedures are often associated with chronic pain and mobility issues, impacting patients’ quality of life. In contrast, wait times for radiation oncology and medical oncology were considerably shorter, at just 4.2 weeks and 4.7 weeks, respectively.

Even after patients consult with a specialist, they are facing wait times that exceed what medical professionals consider clinically reasonable by an average of 4.5 weeks. As Mackenzie Moir, senior policy analyst at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, stated, “Long wait times can result in increased suffering for patients, lost productivity at work, decreased quality of life, and in the worst cases, disability or death.”

The report further indicates ongoing delays in diagnostic imaging, a crucial component of diagnosis and treatment planning. In 2025, patients waited a median of 8.8 weeks for CT scans, 18.1 weeks for MRI scans, and 5.4 weeks for ultrasounds. The delays for MRI scans were particularly concerning, with some provinces reporting waits extending several months.

As Canada continues to confront these challenges within its health care system, the implications of these delays resonate across communities, affecting not only patient health but also broader societal productivity and well-being.