Conservatives hide billions in cuts, could appoint minister who supports U.S.-style system

VANCOUVER – BC NDP leader David Eby stood with nurses to outline the clear choice for British Columbians on health care: his plan to keep building hospitals and hiring health care workers or billions of dollars in backdoor health care cuts from the Conservatives.

“There’s nothing more important than being able to access quality health care when you need it. We’ll ask those at the top to chip in a bit more so we can continue connecting people to family doctors and bring down wait times for tests and surgeries,” said Eby. “There’s a clear choice in this election. The BC Conservatives are hiding billions of dollars in cuts and refuse to rule out their MLA who supports an American-style, for-profit system as their health minister. When health care is already under strain, we can’t afford that.”

The Conservative platform cuts $2 billion a year from the budget line that helps pay for hospitals, surgeries, clinics and long-term care. They’ve made $5 billion in promises without a credible plan to pay for them, including hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy. Interim Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson refused to rule out appointing health critic Anna Kindy, who has spread medical misinformation and supports paying out of pocket for basic health care, as his health minister.

Eby also announced that a re-elected BC NDP will make sure nurses have more time with the people they care for by enshrining minimum nurse-to-patient ratios into law. He committed to continue working to implement ratios across the health care system – starting next with emergency rooms.

"Having a nurse who actually has time to focus on their patients makes all the difference. That's why we were first in Canada to guarantee how many patients each nurse cares for,” said Eby. “That puts your safety and well-being first. It also gives nurses a much better workplace, which has already helped us bring on over 4,700 more nurses in B.C. We're making real progress, but we can’t stop now."

This will build on the BC NDP’s record of investing in front-line health care. More than a million people have been matched with a family doctor or nurse practitioner. 24 new and expanded hospitals have been built or are underway. A new medical school is training the next generation of family doctors right now at SFU Surrey.

Eby has committed to adding 1,000 training seats for nurses, nurse practitioners, allied health workers and care aides, including a 20% increase in nursing seats.