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Juan de Fuca-Malahat candidates discuss health, environment and affordability issues

Where they stand

The three candidates in the Oct. 19 provincial election in the new Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding — the NDP's Dana Lajeunesse, the Green’s David Evans, and the Conservatives' Marina Sapozhnikov — recently discussed issues around health, the environment and affordability with the Citizen.

Lajeunesse said it’s no secret that the health-care system in the province is facing challenges, and the NDP government has been working hard to improve the public’s access.

He said the province's new payment model for doctors that was introduced 17 months ago has already attracted more than 800 doctors to family practice.

“The NDP has also been building and expanding hospitals in the province, including the new ($1.5-billion) Cowichan District Hospital,” Lajeunesse said. “We will continue to make these investments in heath care, while if the Conservatives are elected and move forward with their plans to cut $4.1 billion from health care, these projects will stop. We’ve also invested ($60.7 million) in a new medical school in Surrey to train more doctors, as well as investing in UBC and the medical programs of other institutions.”

As for the opioid crisis, Lajeunesse said it’s a difficult and complex issue, and the NDP government has been working hard to help people with addictions as much as possible.

“There are so many pathways that lead to addictions, and we’ve found that catching people before they fall is a good strategy,” he said.

In regards to the environment, Lajeunesse said the impacts of climate change are very apparent across the globe.

But he said the NDP is taking action, and have introduced the CleanBC program with the intent to lower climate-changing greenhouse-gas emissions by 40 per cent by 2030, and is collaborating with partners in industry, Indigenous communities and local governments.

“The program calls for caps on the oil industry and increasing B.C.’s supplies of cleaner fuels, as well as supporting training for people to fix electric engines as we prepare for the increasing electrification of transportation, among many other initiatives,” Lajeunesse said.

Lajeunesse said it’s no secret that affordability for housing, groceries and more is a big issue in B.C.

“There’s no doubt that people need financial support due to the high costs of just about everything, but the government has lowered ICBC rates, the Medical Services Plan’s premiums have been discontinued, and, if re-elected, the NDP would implement an annual tax cut of $1,000 for the average family in the province starting next year,” he said.

Lajeunesse also noted the NDP’s proposed new housing loan plan in which the government would offer low-interest loans to middle-income home buyers.

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In regards to health issues, Evans said the NDP government’s plan to involuntarily incarcerate those with severe addictions to provide treatment simply won’t work.

Evans said it has been proven that approximately 96 per cent of people forced into drug treatment are not helped by incarcerating them against their will.

“What is needed is more harm reduction because these people need housing, care and attention before their addictions can be properly dealt with,” he said. “We have to remember that these are people and we’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem. It’s a complicated issue that’s tied into many other issues, like poverty.”

As for doctor shortages in the province, Evans said it’s not well known that B.C. has a higher ratio of doctors to patients than other provinces, but there are other issues that are impacting their ability to do their jobs.

“Many doctors in B.C. are tired of all the bureaucracy and are leaving the health field,” he said. “The doctors are saying that they are spending as much as one-third of their time just filling out paperwork. I don’t think money is the main problem here. It’s other issues like the heavy bureaucracy that are the main problems that must be dealt with.”

Evans said the Greens are committed to establishing community health centres in every riding in B.C.

He said the health centres would have medical professionals from a number of fields and multiple labs to make health service quicker and more efficient for patients, as well as more cost efficient for taxpayers.

“People from the Cowichan Valley would not have to go to Victoria anymore for a number of medical procedures as they would be done in a local health centre,” Evans said.

As for the environment, Evans said many changes have to be made if B.C. is going to make a difference on climate change.

He said the province needs to change the way it extracts resources and, in regards to forestry, more value-added projects are necessary to keep jobs and money in B.C.

Evans said that despite the clear link between burning fossil fuels and catastrophic climate events, the NDP government has overseen a 44 per cent increase in fracked gas production and an expansion of the LNG industry in its time in power.

In regards to affordability, particularly in housing, Evans said that people are currently paying so much for housing while also having to deal with other skyrocketing expenses that the food banks in Sooke, where he lives, had run out of food when schools opened last month.

He said, if elected to government, the Green Party’s policy calls for everyone in B.C. to be able to afford a home that meets their needs, as either renters or owners, by 2035.

Evans said the Green Party believes housing is a basic human right and not a tool for generating profit.

In its party platform, the Greens said they would introduce a number of changes to housing policy to help deal with the ongoing housing shortage, including providing $1.5 billion annually to construct 26,000 new units of non-market housing each year.

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Sapozhnikov said B.C. spends more than 11 per cent of its GDP on healthcare, more than 27 comparable other countries, and spent more than $30 billion on the health-care system in the 2023-2024 fiscal year alone.

She said, at the same time, more than 180 emergency room closures across B.C. have been reported in 2024 to date.

“The taxpayers are the ones who subsidize our system and we should demand much better services,” she said. "As a physician, I have seen the results of a failing health care system first hand. The BC Conservatives have created a new ‘Patients First’ healthcare model which would deliver universal health care to everyone under a single-payer system where the funding follows the patient.”

Sapozhnikov said, under that model, facilities would be paid for the number of patients treated or procedures performed, which would incentivize hospitals to treat as many patients as possible and that would slash waiting times.

“Our policy is strengthened by a wait time guarantee proposal, according to which patients would be able to get treated in another province if they are not able to access timely care at home,” she said. “We would also enforce a zero-tolerance policy on illicit drug use in hospitals.“

As for the environment, Sapozhnikov said conservation is a core value for her party.

She said the Conservatives would maintain the ecological integrity of B.C.’s forests by implementing selective harvesting which allows the balance between the steady flow of fibre with reducing the wildfire risk, and aligns with conservation goals.

“Wildfires pose a significant threat to B.C.’s forests, communities, and the economy, and the Conservatives would reintroduce controlled burns, avoid monoculture when possible, and create borders of wetter species and other preventative measures to reduce wildfire risks, protect watersheds and communities,” Sapozhnikov said.

“The BC Conservatives are also committed to clean energy and moving away from fossil fuels," she said.

Sapozhnikov acknowledged that the cost of living is one the most pressing issues in the province.

She said the provincial debt has doubled in the last six years and B.C. now has record debt and uncontrolled spending, while services have worsened and infrastructure is failing.

“The NDP inherited a $2.7-billion surplus and have turned it into a $9-billion deficit, with nothing to show for it and no end in sight,” Sapozhnikov said. “Our policy for ‘A Free and Prosperous BC’ proposes, among others, focusing on growing private sector jobs, including in part increasing a Made-in-B.C. manufacturing initiative, ending the carbon tax, and reducing bureaucratic red tape which will attract international investment.”

Sapozhnikov said the Conservatives also propose to empower First Nations through economic reconciliation.

“The Conservative Party’s plan also includes an immediate tax rebate which will remove B.C. income taxes from $3,000 per month of housing costs, including rent, mortgage interest, and strata fees, offering significant relief to both renters and homeowners.”