On September 3, 2026, Quebec's emergency departments recorded a total of 1,062 waiting patients and 3,566 patients currently in ERs across 120 facilities. According to historical data from urgencesquebec.com, the situation represents a notable improvement in waitlists compared to nine days prior (August 26, 2026), when 1,249 patients were waiting, marking a decrease of 187 patients. However, overall stretcher occupancy rose slightly by 2 percentage points over the same period to reach 83% at the latest snapshot, recovering from an earlier peak of 91% in the morning.
Severe congestion remains concentrated in key metropolitan regions. Laval led the province with a striking 147% average stretcher occupancy, followed by Montérégie at 136%, and Lanaudière and Montréal both at 126%. On an individual facility level, Hôpital de Gatineau (Outaouais) was the most crowded with 51 patients waiting and stretcher occupancy at 175%, followed closely by Laval's Hôpital de la Cité-de-la-Santé with 49 waiting and 147% occupancy.