BC Conservative multi-billion backdoor health care cuts hiding in plain sight

KELOWNA – As part of his plan to strengthen health care in every corner of B.C., David Eby will invest $30 million to expand the Kelowna General Hospital. The announcement comes just days after Lorne Doerkson and the BC Conservatives released a platform that hides billions of dollars in backdoor cuts to health care and has no funding to improve Kelowna General.

“No matter where you live in British Columbia, you deserve quality health care to be there for you when you need it. We’ve made progress building hospitals and hiring health care workers, but there’s so much more to do,” said David Eby, BC NDP leader. “The BC Conservatives waited until roughly half a million people had voted to release their platform, and now we see why. It shows billions of health care cuts hiding in plain sight. That would mean fewer family doctors, longer waits for worse care, and no funding to expand hospitals that need it.”

Eby noted that Kelowna is growing and they need health care facilities to match. The hospital expansion will include a permanent inpatient unit on the sixth floor, replacing a temporary ward behind the emergency department. This will help address capacity issues and increase the number of in-patient beds. Planning was underway on the expansion prior to the election, and the BC NDP can now proceed with it by asking the top 3.88% of income earners to contribute a little more to strengthen healthcare for everyone.

The Conservative platform contained no funding to improve Kelowna General and

attacks the BC NDP for tripling infrastructure investments. They set no targets of their own for infrastructure spending. This signals hidden cuts and project cancellations to come, especially damaging for projects like these or even projects under construction – just as Doerkson has promised to do with the Massey Tunnel.

The Conservative platform also cuts $2 billion a year from a line in the budget that’s used to fund operating costs for surgeries, hospitals, long-term care centres and clinics. Eby said it’s packed full of shell games and unrealistic growth projections to cover up the fact that Doerkson’s made over $6 billion in promises with no plan to pay for it.

“We know what happens when Conservatives can’t pay for their promises – they make deep cuts to healthcare and services people count on. We can’t afford that,” said Eby. “We’ve been clear that we’ll ask the wealthiest British Columbians to chip in a bit more so we can make sure everyone has better health care. That’s how we build B.C. strong.”