On Sept. 19, while addressing local elected officials at the Union of BC Municipalities annual conference in Vancouver, Premier David Eby said BC Conservative health platform will necessitate $4 billion in cuts. On other occasions, Eby has said the conservatives will fire doctors, lay off nurses and otherwise gut the healthcare system.
On Sept. 20, BC Conservative Leader John Rustad addressed the local officials and refuted the premier’s claims. Both leaders fielded questions from reporters after their speeches. This is an excerpt of what both leaders said during those public appearances.
Eby: “I can guarantee you that we will not be able to address [Emergency Room closures] by cutting the health care budget, which is what the BC conservatives are proposing. A $4 billion cut to our health care budget that will not leave us further ahead, that will not address the challenges we face, and it certainly will not keep your emergency rooms open.”
Rustad: “They’re saying that the conservatives are going to cut four billion out of health care and we’re going to bring back MSP (Medical Services Plan premiums), and we’re going to be putting in bridge tolls. All of those are lies. They are not something that the Conservative Party will be doing at all.
“Matter of fact, we’re going to be seeing health care spending increase. We need to be dealing with affordability in this province, not that kind of rhetoric.
“It’s sad to think that our premier is so comfortable with this kind of misinformation and lying to the public in British Columbia.”
Background
The NDP claim the Conservative plan would lead to $4.1 billion in cuts appears to be based on their own interpretation of the Conservative platform rather than an explicit statement from the Conservatives.
It appears to rely on a Deloitte report referenced by the BC Conservatives earlier in the summer when they announced their health care plan. The Deloitte report estimates “reforms and modernization can bring about savings and reduce” healthcare spending from its current 12.4 per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product to under 11 per cent of GDP by 2040.
The BC NDP seized on this, estimating B.C.’s portion of the drop in spending at $4 billion and alleging the Conservatives will cut that portion from healthcare and have to fire doctors and nurses to do it. Vaughn Palmer has a succinct overview here and Rob Shaw reports on it here.
Fact: John Rustad has said repeatedly his party will not cut healthcare funding, calling such assertions “outright lies” and “fear mongering” by the NDP. Rustad said their plan will cause an initial “spike” in healthcare spending before levelling off. Specifically, Rustad said they will “increase the funding currently outlined in the Ministry of Health Service Plan.”
Rustad has stated on numerous occasions his party’s intention is to continue the current universal healthcare model, borrowing from European practices that rely on a mix of public and privately provided services. For instance, proposed activity-based funding for hospitals seeks to allow more services to be delivered through private clinics, while remaining under the public healthcare system.
Funding will follow the patient, ensuring a “patient-first” focus, and wait times will be reduced because patients will be able to get publicly funded health services from non-government providers if necessary, according to Rustad.
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