BC Party Leaders’ Okanagan Campaign
NDP Leader David Eby is promising a $75 million loan forgiveness program to incentivize doctors, nurses and health-care professionals to expand health services in rural B.C.
Eby’s pledge during the provincial election campaign comes as hospitals in rural British Columbia face periods of emergency closures due primarily to a lack of staff.
“We have to win the competition for doctors and nurses, both nationally and internationally,” Eby said at an outdoor news conference in a Vernon city park on the shores of Okanagan Lake .
Interior Health said Friday that emergency rooms at the South Okanagan General Hospital in the Okanagan community of Oliver will be closed Saturday due to “limited physician availability.” Patients are advised to travel to Penticton for emergency care.
Eby said the NDP program will offer student loan forgiveness of between $10,000 and $20,000 in exchange for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals guaranteed to stay in a rural community for at least five years .
“The goal here is to make sure that when people are looking for a place to practice, they think about the smaller centers of British Columbia, and they think about British Columbia and prioritize working here,” he said. he declared.
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Eby also pledged to reduce administrative restrictions faced by midwives to allow easier access to abortion care, particularly in rural areas.
Midwives will also be able to insert intrauterine devices, test for sexually transmitted infections and manage sexual assault, he added.
British Columbia Conservative Leader John Rustad, who also campaigned in the Okanagan region on Saturday, promised to improve wildfire prevention and protect communities.
Kelowna and West Kelowna in the Okanagan region were ravaged by wildfires last summer that forced thousands of people from their homes and damaged or destroyed nearly 200 structures.
A statement from the BC Conservative Party says if elected, it will call for a comprehensive review of current wildfire policies while focusing on wildfire prevention, including investing in new technologies to reduce the risk of wildfires before the fires start.
“We need to flip the script. The math is reversed: under Eby, we spend nine times more on fighting fires than on preventing them. It’s time for a better strategy that prioritizes prevention and safety,” Rustad said in the release.
Rustad also pledged to “end” tent camps across the province, with measures that would include strict enforcement of public safety laws and building more supportive housing that will have zero tolerance towards drugs and crime.
“We will end David Eby’s approach of distributing free drugs and crack pipes in B.C. It’s arguably these policies that are helping to fuel these evictions and make the situation worse,” Rustad said at a news conference Saturday in Kelowna.
Rustad said the Conservatives would also reopen Riverview Hospital, which was formerly a mental health facility and was closed in 2012, to provide treatment for people who need mental health and addiction support.
British Columbia’s NDP candidate for Port Coquitlam, Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s public safety minister, said in a statement that Rustad’s plans would lead to more encampments.
Farnworth said that when Rustad worked as a Liberal minister in British Columbia, he had a long history of blocking housing construction and cuts to health care and housing,
Greens Leader Sonia Furstenau spent Saturday canvassing and attending a series of events in Victoria.
Election Day is October 19 and British Columbians can begin voting early on October 10.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 5, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said Mike Farnworth was the former Minister of Public Safety.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
