Too often, "taking action" for the NDP means pouring more taxpayer money into a problem.
But they don't track, disclose, or seemingly even care about the results of that spending. Zero accountability!
Nowhere is that more true than in health. We entrusted them with billions of our dollars and our very lives.
Here's how they responded.
Far from the front lines, one area of the health system is growing fast. Each of BC's multiple health authorities, and the Ministry of Health, maintains its own head office bureaucracy, managing centralized infrastructure, policy, planning, and more.
UPCCs were supposed to provide rapid access to urgent care while increasing primary care attachment. They've done neither and forced the closure of many independent family practice clinics. And they've cost a fortune that could have been used more effectively for better care.
Demand independent and mandatory reporting on our health system. The same organization that funds, manages, and operates the health system cannot be trusted to report on it too. Especially when there are political consequences for sharing bad news with the public.
The BC NDP have grossly mismanaged health care. Is changing government enough to fix this? Will BC Conservatives or BC United do better? No! Given free rein, they'd be a disaster too, just a different one. Because no government is accountable to the public or required to tell the full truth about taxpayer money spent and health services delivered.
To fix, strengthen, and protect our most treasured social program, we need an independent body with full, legally mandated access to report regularly on health system performance: access, outcomes, and financials. Start with a full public audit and inquiry of what's happened in health care over the last five years and where we are now. And don't trust any government to make sweeping changes without full transparency and accountability safeguards in place.
And make this a firm condition to support election candidates from any party.