BC Conservatives costed platform reveals major spending cuts to health care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 16, 2024

The platform comes four days before the election and weeks of unanswered request for information from the BC Health Coalition 

After much delay, the Conservative Party of BC finally released its costed platform four days before the Provincial election. The BC Health Coalition analysis of the overall Conservative health care plans is that if the party comes to power, it will amount to major cuts in health care service and increased wait times. 

In their costed platform release on October 15, the Conservative party proposes to increase health care spending $900m next year (2025/26) and $500m in 2026/27– 2.5% and 1.3%, respectively. This increase in dollar terms translates to spending cuts in real terms. To accommodate a growing and aging population—as well as wage and salary pressures for health care professionals—public health care spending needs to grow annually by about 5% in order to maintain the same level of health care services. 

“There is simply no way that the BC Conservatives will be able to fund major new health care infrastructure, including a new Surrey children’s hospital and 5,000 new long-term care beds by 2030, based on their capital plan,” says Ayendri Riddell, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the BC Health Coalition. “Their plan includes a $400 million capital funding cut in 2026/27. Mr. Rustad either has no grasp of health care finance or has no intention of fulfilling these promises,” Riddell adds.

The Conservatives’ health care plans are likely to increase wait times. The platform proposes that BC follow Saskathewan and Quebec in outsourcing many more surgeries. As revealed by SFU health policy researcher Andrew Longhurst, these are provinces with some of the longest  surgical wait times in the country. 

“If BC follows Saskatchewan and Quebec down the road of surgical and hospital privatization, as the BC Conservatives propose, then BC can also expect to have the distinction of some of the longest wait times in the country for hip and knee replacements and cataract surgeries,” says Andrew Longhurst, SFU health policy researcher.

The BC Health Coalition had planned to release the three main political parties’ responses to the Coalition’s questions about six priority solutions to heal public health care. 

Despite requests to clarify the Conservative Party’s positions on six priority health care solutions, John Rustad and the Conservative Party have refused to answer questions and failed to provide a credible health care plan.

“We’re extremely concerned that one of the parties that could form our next government seems completely unprepared to address the challenges we’re seeing in our health care system,” says Riddell. “Even more concerning is what they have released doesn’t add up.”

 

The BC Health Coalition is a B.C.-wide non-partisan, non-profit coalition of community members, health care workers, researchers, NGO and community service providers. We base our policy positions on peer-reviewed research and on our mission to strengthen and defend the public health care system. Please visit our website, https://www.bchealthcoalition.ca/ to learn more about our work

BACKGROUNDER

Health care cuts and finance

  • The Conservative Party of BC platform (see page 48) proposes to increase health operating spending from $36.6 billion in 2024/25 to $37.5 billion in 2025/26 ($900m or 2.5% increase), and from $37.5 billion in 2025/26 to $38 billion in 2026/27 ($500m or 1.3% increase).
  • This increase in dollar terms translates to spending cuts in real terms (also called inflation-adjusted terms). To accommodate a growing and aging population—as well as wage and salary pressures for health care professionals—public health care spending needs to grow annually by about 5% in order to maintain the same level of health care services, according to economists and health policy experts.
  • The Conservative Party of BC platform (see page 48) proposes to increase health capital spending from $4.3 billion in 2024/25 to $4.8 billion in 2025/26 ($500 million or 12% increase), and decrease spending in dollar terms from $4.8 billion in 2025/26 to $4.4 billion in 2026/27 ($400 million or 8% decrease).
  • The proposal to cut health capital spending cannot be reconciled with the party’s major health care infrastructure proposals, including a new Surrey children’s hospital, new hospital towers in Nanaimo and Prince George, and 5,000 new long-term care beds by 2030.

Privatization and surgical wait times

  • The Conservative Party proposes that BC should follow Saskatchewan and Quebec’s approach to hospital and surgical privatization, including expanded outsourcing of publicly funded surgeries to for-profit clinics. 
  • Provinces with the greatest share of surgical outsourcing – Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec – generally have the longest wait times in the country for knee and hip replacements and cataract surgeries. 
  • Saskatchewan outsources nearly 4 times the share of private surgeries than BC (19% compared to 5%) and has much longer wait times for hip, knee and cataract surgeries (see table).


Table: Surgery wait times and share of outsourced surgeries by province