Main parties campaign on health care, jobs at start of Week 2 of B.C. election
BURNABY, B.C. — New Democrat Leader John Horgan took aim on Monday at the Liberals’ failed pledge to match every British Columbian with a family doctor by promoting his party’s strategy to build team-based urgent care centres.
The centres would be open evenings and weekends and would allow patients to see the care provider that fits their needs, whether it’s a doctor, nurse practitioner or counsellor, Horgan said at a campaign stop ahead of the May 9 election.
Horgan said Christy Clark’s Liberals are letting down patients, who are waiting for hours at walk-in clinics or emergency rooms. The NDP said 700,000 people don’t have a family doctor, with 200,000 still looking for one.
“It’s a fundamental right in Canada to access our public health care system. I will defend that to my last breath,” Horgan said.