Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

By Chad Klassen

CAR 40 PROMISE

B.C. Liberal leader promises $250,000 for Car 40 expansion in Kamloops

Oct 2, 2020 | 4:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — B.C. Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson made his way up to the Interior on Day 12 of the campaign, making stops in Kamloops and Merritt on Friday (Oct. 2) with a pair of promises for these Interior communities.

At the North Shore Community Policing Office, Wilkinson announced that if his party is elected on Oct. 24, Interior Health would pay for an expansion of Car 40 in the amount of $250,000 a year.

Car 40 pairs an RCMP officer with a mental health nurse. Currently, there are two police officers and one nurse who operate of Car 40. Wilkinson, with advice from local Liberal candidates Todd Stone and Peter Milobar, wants to see the program operate 24/7.

“I think we all know that these issues related to mental health, mental illness, addictions, are no longer confined to quiet, dark quarters of our communities. They’re highly visible,” said Wilkinson. “We’re also seeing the effects of domestic distress. These things are often related to mental health issues, and as much as our police force and public safety services do their best to manage these, they’re often not entirely or even at all related to the criminal justice system.”

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Wilkinson says the additional $250,000 per year would come out of the Interior Health budget instead of the public safety budget. It would add two and a half more equivalent mental health positions to Car 40 and allow for 24-hour coverage.

“There are chronic issues about where the money’s coming from and who accountable,” said Wilkinson. “These are health issue, folks, let’s be clear. I was a medical doctor in earlier years and you treat health issues as health issues, and the province is responsible for health care. That’s why we’re undertaking to put $250,000 from the Interior Health budget into the Car 40 program in Kamloops.”