Quebec’s ER wait times are the worst in Canada and one Montreal hospital is off the charts

<img src="https://www.mtlblog.com/media-library/urgence-emergency-in-french-sign-on-the-facade-of-a-hospital-in-montreal-canada.jpg?id=60384290&width=1200&height=800&coordinates=132%2C0%2C132%2C0"/><br/><br/><p>If it feels like a trip to the emergency room in Quebec takes all day, you're not alone. And while the province's long hospital wait times are not exactly breaking news, a new report shows just how much worse the wait is here compared to the rest of the country.</p><p><span></span>According to <a href="https://www.iedm.org/canadians-are-waiting-too-long-in-the-emergency-room/" target="_blank">fresh data from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI)</a>, the median ER stay in Quebec is now 5 hours and 23 minutes — the longest in Canada by a long shot. For context, that's almost double the wait in Newfoundland and Labrador, where patients spend just 2 hours and 45 minutes on average.</p><p>The study looked at emergency room data across the country for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and found that wait times have been rising in most provinces since 2020. But Quebec consistently ranks near the bottom when it comes to timely care.</p> <p>Here's how median ER stays compared across Canada:</p> <ul> <li> <strong>Newfoundland and Labrador:</strong> 2h45</li> <li> <strong>Alberta:</strong> 3h48</li> <li> <strong>Manitoba:</strong> 4h00</li> <li> <strong>Ontario:</strong> 4h00</li> <li> <strong>British Columbia:</strong> 4h13</li> <li> <strong>New Brunswick:</strong> 4h28</li> <li> <strong>Prince Edward Island:</strong> 4h36</li> <li> <strong>Quebec:</strong> 5h23</li> </ul> <p>(Data for Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia was not available.)</p><p>The report also highlighted specific examples, like Pavillon Albert-Prévost in Montreal, where the median length of stay for the majority of patients is over 13 hours, making it one of the worst in the country.</p><p>The MEI suggests that overcrowded ERs are partly the result of poor access to primary care and a lack of urgent care alternatives. It even points to France's model of "immediate care clinics" — private walk-in centres for minor emergencies — as one possible fix.</p><p>In the meantime, Quebecers are still facing packed emergency rooms across the province. ER occupancy rates have <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/montreal-hospital-capacity-er" target="_blank">regularly exceeded 120% in 2025, with several Greater Montreal hospitals topping 150%</a> — and some hitting even higher.</p><p>If you're hoping to avoid a long wait, <a href="https://www.indexsante.ca/urgences/" target="_blank">Index Santé</a> updates ER wait times and occupancy levels daily, so you can check which hospitals are the least crowded before heading out.</p><p>You can explore the entire MEI report <a href="https://www.iedm.org/canadians-are-waiting-too-long-in-the-emergency-room/" target="_blank">here</a>. </p><p><em>Love this? Check out our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/notices/" target="_blank">MTL Blog noticeboard</a> for details on jobs, benefits, travel info and more!</em></p><p><br/></p><p><em>AI tools may have been used to support the creation or distribution of this content; however, it has been carefully edited and fact-checked by a member of MTL Blog's Editorial team. For more information on our use of AI, please visit our <a href="https://www.mtlblog.com/editorial-standards" target="_blank">Editorial Standards page</a>.</em></p>

mingooland June 3, 2025

2 min read