Yukon adds $8.3M for hospitals, including more nurses

The Government of Yukon is giving Yukon Hospitals an extra $8.34 million for 2026-27 to cover staffing and operating pressures, including more nurses at all three of the territory’s hospitals.

The territorial government and the hospital corporation said in a joint news release that $4.4 million comes from a pension contribution holiday, which the corporation has been authorized to reallocate. The other $3.94 million is an increase to its operation and maintenance transfer.

Health and Social Services will absorb that $3.94 million within its existing 2026-27 budget, the release said, so the department’s operation and maintenance appropriation does not increase.

The money will support staffing priorities from the hospital corporation’s June 2025 business case, including health professionals needed to run eight new beds that opened in July. Budget 2026 had already included $151.2 million in operation and maintenance funding for Yukon Hospitals, up $15.8 million from 2025-26. The new money lifts the operating budget to more than $155 million.

The government said Whitehorse General Hospital continues to face sustained capacity pressure, with occupancy regularly exceeding 100 per cent.

“The Yukon’s hospitals face growing demand for services and increasing support for high-priority operational needs is required,” Health and Social Services Minister Brad Cathers said in the release.

Pamela Hine, chair of the Yukon Hospitals Board of Trustees, thanked the government and said the support will help the corporation stay responsive as patients’ health care needs grow more complex.

The release was issued Oct. 27, the day before the territory tabled its public accounts. Our report on those accounts found Yukon posted a $4.9-million surplus, $77 million short of forecast. We also reported that Yukon and its public servants’ union reached a tentative deal.

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