Open Letter to BC Voters

Open Letter to BC Voters

This election, we have a choice. On October 24, British Columbians can choose to protect and grow our public health system, or go back – to cuts, privatisation, and long waits.

The BC Health Coalition calls on the next provincial government to:

• Make home care affordable and accessible in every region of the province
• Expand long term care by funding 16,000 spaces over ten years
• Establish measurable, equitable access to ER, maternity and diagnostic services in remote, rural, and Indigenous communities

Join us. On October 24, vote for public health.

Without sustained pressure from the public, we risk a shortage of long term care beds. Families travelling with sick children to Vancouver for medical services risk reduced funding for transportation. Seniors relying on home care support risk high fees if the government does not provide adequate funding for care aides.

Many of us lived through the rollbacks and ripping up of health worker collective agreements by past governments. Wages were frozen at 0% increases, whole job categories were privatised, and people’s wages cut in half. We can’t go back.

Let’s make sure every British Columbian, in every region, has equitable access to universal, humane, public health care.

Hospitals in Fort Nelson, Dawson Creek, and south of the Fraser regularly face hallway medicine and ER closures. Staff shortages have led to delays in maternity and pediatric care in Kelowna and the Central Okanagan. Your address should not dictate what level of health care you receive.

We know better is possible – there is momentum to celebrate:

• A 204-bed replacement for the Cowichan District Hospital
• A new acute care tower at Royal Columbian Hospital 
• A new digital radiography X-ray machine and upgraded exam room at Port Hardy Hospital
• Construction for the new St. Paul’s Hospital campus
• Free prescription birth control, diabetes, and menopausal hormone therapy medications
• Expanded scope of practice for midwives
• The opening of the first new medical school in Western Canada in nearly 60 years, at Simon Fraser University in Surrey

We can't stop now. The cure is public. On October 24, vote for public health.