Quebec emergency room patients are waiting longer than they did several years ago, with the provincial median ER stay increasing by 41 minutes since 2018 and exceeding 14 hours at one Montreal hospital this year, according to a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).
The report examines wait times at 115 emergency rooms across the province, using data from the Quebec Health Ministry for the 2025–26 fiscal year.
It found that the median ER wait time in Quebec rose from four hours and 31 minutes in 2018 to five hours and 12 minutes provincewide in 2025–26.
“Despite the rapid increase in healthcare spending, Quebecers continue to wait longer and longer when they go to an ER,” said MEI’s vice president of communications Renaud Brossard in an Aug. 20 release….