BURST
Premier David Eby signed a public health-care guarantee over the Thanksgiving long weekend committing his party to the public system, and then accused the B.C. Conservatives of wanting to bring in a two-tier system.
But the Conservatives are saying the NDP are “fearmongering,” and experts say there is little evidence the party would introduce American-style health care to the province.
“The commitment that the Conservatives have made, the $3 billion hole that the Conservatives blew in the provincial budget very early in the election campaign, means only one thing: They are coming just like they did before to make major cuts in our health-care system,” said Eby at an event in Vancouver on Tuesday, going after the Conservative’s plan to cut income taxes.
“If you are cutting the health-care system, you’re laying off nurses, you’re closing clinics, just like we’ve seen before.”
He said that both his wife, Cailey Lynch, who is a family doctor and registered nurse, as well as his mother-in-law, who was an addictions worker, were laid off by the B.C. Liberals under former premier Christy Clark, and that the Conservative’s new plan to cut income taxes would require $20 billion in cuts to provincial programs.
As specific examples, Eby cited Conservative leader Lorne Doerkson’s lack of a commitment to the building of a new hospital in Surrey, as well as comments made by North Island candidate Anna Kindy and Fraser-Nicola candidate Tony Luck.
In a video clip released by the NDP, Kindy appeared to talk about the benefits of private care at a meet-and-greet event, while Luck told Castanet in February that health care and education are the two biggest costs to the provincial treasury and would have to bear the brunt of efforts to reduce the province’s current deficit, which is now projected to be $13.8 billion this fiscal year.
Despite the musings of two of his candidates, Doerkson has promised to keep health care and education spending steady, and has said the only thing British Columbians will need in order to access care under his government is their health card.
In a statement, the Conservatives accused the NDP of “fearmongering” and said Eby should be focusing on his own record on health care.
“This is the same premier who promised every British Columbian a family doctor by the end of 2025. More than one million British Columbians still don’t have one. Emergency rooms closed nearly 2,400 times in two years. Specialist waits are the longest on record,” said the party.
Challenges with B.C.’s public health-care system has actually led to the province paying for private care on occasion, with the NDP government spending taxpayer dollars to send over 1,000 British Columbians to Washington State for radiation treatment between 2023 and 2025.
Andrew Longhurst, a PhD candidate at SFU and senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, said that Conservatives could be planning to engage in health care privatization without campaigning on it, like the Alberta United Conservatives did after the 2023 election in that province.
Starting this fall, Alberta doctors will have the option to work in private care so long as they complete a certain number of hours in the public system.
At the same time, Longhurst said that nothing Doerkson has said publicly to date gives an indication that is the road they are going down.
Cherie Payne, executive-director of the B.C. Health Coalition, said she is happy to see the NDP, Conservatives and Greens all express support for publicly-funded health care.
She said the big problem for whomever forms the next government will be in finding revenue to pay for the maintenance and expansion of services given the province’s current fiscal crisis.
“The conversation that I see developing is not really around whether or not we should have public health care, but more what is the best way to pay for it,” said Payne.
“The NDP, we saw that they are proposing a two per cent increase on income taxes over $190,000. From the Greens, we see a proposal for a wealth tax on assets and expansion of the tourism sector. And then from the B.C. Conservatives, what I think I’m hearing is that they’re proposing that there will be increased government revenue from resource development.”
Paul Adams, executive-director of the B.C. Rural Health Network, said that too many emergency rooms are still closing across B.C. and that many British Columbians aren’t able to get the care they need.
A Postmedia analysis in July found B.C. emergency rooms closed nearly 2,400 times between 2023 and 2025.
Adams said policies such as the Conservative’s plan to provide rural emergency rooms with a $50 million fund and the NDP’s promise to provide incentives to health-care workers to work in remote facilities will both help, but there remain few details about implementation.
“Election promises tend to have little substance,” he said. “So until you see the details of these proposals, which we don’t have, we have very vague commitments to different thoughts and ideologies.”