• The Governing BC NDP have not made formal campaign commitments yet which is in alignment with standard practice for an incumbent government.

• They are instead announcing funding and policies as government, most of which flow from the Budget announced in February of this year.

• Key documents which summarize their forward-looking plans include:

  • B.C.’s Primary Care Strategy

  • B.C.’s Health Human Resources Strategy

  • B.C.’s Allied Health Strategic Plan

  • B.C.'s 10-Year Cancer Care Action Plan

• Closer to the start of the campaign, the BC NDP will likely announce a small number of high-profile announcements early in the campaign.

• So far, the B.C. Government has rolled back aspects of the illicit drug decriminalization program and has allowed unvaccinated health care workers to rejoin the workforce, two roll backs of high profile health policies aimed at dampening opposition criticism.

• Additionally, Premier Eby has unveiled a new platform on involuntary treatment as random violence committed by individuals experiencing mental health issues occupy the headlines.

  • This plan would include the opening of mental health units at correctional facilities throughout the province, as well as regional facilities that would provide long-term care and housing for those with mental health needs.

• The party will then likely release its full platform early in the campaign which will largely be a recap of major policies implemented or committed to.

• The BC Conservative Party released a high-level summary of their overall position on key policy areas including health care which commits to overall system reform; allowing choice and competition; reducing wait times; adding more doctors and nurses; and repealing the BC NDP’s health professional regulation legislation.

• On July 18 they released a more focused health care platform which outlined key elements of their proposed ‘patients first’ healthcare model they would implement if elected.

1. Expand access to care and reduce wait times.

   1. Reducing red tape.

   2. Use privately owned care facilities to deliver publicly funded care.

   3. Establish a wait times guarantee and offer access to out-of-province care if medically recommended wait times are exceeded.

2. Protect and support front line staff.

   1. Hire more health care professionals and rehire those who were forced out of work for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

   2. Reduce administrative staff.

   3. Ban illicit drug use in hospitals and repeal the Health Professions and Occupations Act.

3. Create a modern, transparent, and accountable healthcare system

   1. Shift to an activity-based funding model for health authorities and hospitals.

   2. Increase public reporting of performance metrics and conduct a Health Services Performance Review.

   3. Potential to use artificial intelligence, digital medicine, and genomics while protecting privacy related to personal health data.

BC Greens leader Sonia Furstenau released a major plank in her party’s health care platform for the provincial election, with an emphasis on solving the issue of recurring ER closures in the province. The Greens have proposed a new ‘Dogwood Model’ which is based on former federal Liberal Health Minister Jane Philpott’s own model for a reformed health system. While the Greens are only targeting a handful of seats on the Island, and effectively have no chance of forming government, this policy could help push forward the conversation on health care reform and be something that the next government will have to consider.

Furstenau laid out a vision whereby a network of community care centres would have doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians etc., all housed in one location. The idea is to cut down wait times and referral delays by having a full suite of health care professionals available in every community, forming a network of small centres that all British Columbians can access.

Furstenau highlighted that this proposal is similar to the current public school system, with every community entitled to health care and where people would only have to leave the community in order to access specialized care. Under this model, staff would be paid salaries as opposed to the activity-based funding model proposed by the BC Conservatives. Furstenau also stated that she believes the funding for this transformation could be found within the current health budget.