Close X
Thursday, December 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

B.C. Conservatives pitch health-care changes, more private clinics

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 18 Jul, 2024 04:24 PM
  • B.C. Conservatives pitch health-care changes, more private clinics

The leader of the Conservative Party of British Columbia says as premier his government would pay to send people outside the province for health care and expand private clinics in an effort to fix a system "in crisis."

John Rustad acknowledges that if his party were to form government in October the plan would cause the provincial budget to "spike," but says in the long-term it will bring down per-capita health-care spending.

Rustad's promises, three months before the provincial election, also include compensating health workers who lost their jobs for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. 

The health-care plan is the first major platform piece for the party and has the governing New Democrats accusing Rustad of planning big health cuts, while the Opposition BC United claims he stole their ideas.

Rustad says expanding publicly funded partnerships with non-governmental clinics for specific procedures and diagnostic services will get people off wait-lists and that similar models in Europe prove it can be done "seamlessly."

He could not provide numbers for how much he expects the health-care overhaul would cost.

"My anticipation is that we will see an initial spike up in spending as the model comes in place, but then that will level off to a place where we'll see the cost per capita dropped over time," he said.

"I don't have the precise numbers," he said. "There are a lot of complexities that have to be put in place as we do the transition."

Documents released by the B.C. Conservatives to accompany the plan highlight a report by Deloitte that projects Canadian health spending as a per cent of GDP will grow to 13.9 per cent by 2040 and suggest "modernization" can bring that down to under 11 per cent.

The report includes calls for more virtual care and improved data collection.

New Democrat member of the legislature Ravi Parmar told reporters after Rustad's announcement the reduction would mean a loss of $4.1 billion in health spending. 

"At a time when we should be investing more in health care in British Columbia, John Rustad and the Conservatives are proposing taking money away from our health-care system," he said.

A statement from BC United says it was the first party to propose to publicly fund treatments at existing private clinics to immediately clear waiting lists and hire back health care workers who were fired due to the vaccine mandate.

“The Rustad Party copying our health care platform, which was created with the input of our strong team of physicians running for BC United in the upcoming election, simply shows that BC United is leading the charge to fix the NDP’s health care crisis,” the statement says.

Rustad says a new "wait-time guarantee" for certain procedures would mean that if patients can't been seen on time they would be sent for care outside the province.

He says his government would do away with the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health-care workers and a committee would decided how the "thousands" of people who were fired would be compensated.

A 2024 B.C. Supreme Court decision upholding the province's vaccine rules says approximately 1,800 health-care workers lost their jobs due to being unvaccinated contrary to these mandates.

MORE National ARTICLES

Postmedia selling the Winnipeg Sun, the Graphic Leader, and Kenora Miner & News

Postmedia selling the Winnipeg Sun, the Graphic Leader, and Kenora Miner & News
Postmedia Network Canada Corp. says it has signed a deal to sell the Winnipeg Sun, the Graphic Leader, and Kenora Miner & News newspapers to the Klein Group Ltd.  Included in the transaction is Postmedia’s Winnipeg commercial print division, all associated digital properties, contracts and other related parts of the businesses.

Postmedia selling the Winnipeg Sun, the Graphic Leader, and Kenora Miner & News

Canada mulls Chinese EV tariff following U.S. move but is not committing to it

Canada mulls Chinese EV tariff following U.S. move but is not committing to it
Canada is looking at the massive new U.S. import tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles imposed by President Joe Biden earlier this month, but is not making any commitment to following suit north of the border. Chinese brands are not a major player in Canada's EV market at the moment but imports from China have exploded in the last year as Tesla switched from U.S. factories for its Canadian sales to its manufacturing plant in Shanghai.

Canada mulls Chinese EV tariff following U.S. move but is not committing to it

Miller increases cap on applications for Palestinians to join relatives in Canada

Miller increases cap on applications for Palestinians to join relatives in Canada
Immigration Minister Marc Miller is increasing the number of applications that will be processed under a much-criticized program to reunite Palestinians with Canadian relatives. The move comes as he testifies about measures introduced months ago that were meant to bring relatives of Canadians from conflict zones in the Gaza Strip and Sudan to safety.

Miller increases cap on applications for Palestinians to join relatives in Canada

As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north

As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north
It was 15 years ago that Ontario student Justin Wood started feeling sick. When it came, the diagnosis was a rare one: Lyme disease. At the time, the tick-borne illness was only responsible for a few hundred infections a year in Canada, according to government statistics. But cases of Lyme disease have now increased more than 1,000 per cent in a decade as the warming climate pushes the boundaries of a range of pathogens and risk factors northward.

As Canada warms, infectious disease risks spread north

Fort Nelson, B.C., evacuees heading home after wildfire evacuation order ends

Fort Nelson, B.C., evacuees heading home after wildfire evacuation order ends
Residents in Fort Nelson are returning home after being evacuated from the community for more than two weeks due to wildfires. The Northern Rockies Regional Municipality and the Fort Nelson First Nation jointly rescinded their evacuation orders at 8 a.m. Monday, lifting roadblocks and clearing the way for people to go home.

Fort Nelson, B.C., evacuees heading home after wildfire evacuation order ends

Surrey business robbed

Surrey business robbed
Mounties in Surrey are hoping to speak with anyone with dashcam footage of the 9200 block of 120 Street on Friday evening after a business was robbed at gunpoint. Police say two men wearing masks entered the unnamed business with what appeared to be firearms, spoke with one of the employees, and stole a cellphone as they walked out.

Surrey business robbed