Scrapping project would mean Surrey residents could wait a decade or more for new healthcare services

SURREY - With advanced voting underway in the Surrey South byelection, BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon doubled down on his plan to scrap the $1.7-billion hospital in Cloverdale, meaning people in Surrey would be denied access to much-needed hospital services for a decade or longer.

Speaking on Red FM, Falcon promised to abandon the current site just south of Kwantlen Polytechnic University campus, where construction will start next year, and claimed he would begin a new hospital project from scratch at another location, where land has not been acquired.

“No, I would not leave it as is. That’s why I have been saying that they are building it in the wrong location,” said Falcon.

Falcon has a long history of opposing a new hospital in Surrey. When he was Minister of Finance in 2012, he sold land which had been reserved for a new hospital in Surrey to a private developer and BC Liberal donor.

Falcon’s plan to cancel the current hospital in 2024 after construction has begun would require: a new concept plan, an overhauled business case, scrapping and relaunching the request for proposal process, and creating a new project design. This would be in addition to the time required for community and First Nation consultations as well as acquiring some of the most difficult and expensive land to purchase.

Surrey South BC NDP candidate Pauline Greaves:

“Kevin Falcon has always played games with the second Surrey hospital. When he was in government, he broke his promise to build it and then sold off the land. Now that the BC NDP is building a hospital in Cloverdale, he wants to scrap it and add up to a decade in construction timelines, if he builds it at all. That’s something people in Surrey South cannot afford.”