Attorney General Murray Rankin (Image Credit: Flickr / Province of B.C.)

By Shuswap MLA Greg Kyllo

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: Crisis? What crisis? NDP lives in la-la land while citizens suffer

Oct 6, 2022 | 1:53 PM

FOR MONTHS, THE OFFICIAL OPPOSITION has been calling on the NDP to acknowledge the sheer magnitude of the crises we face in health care and public safety, and take action. They haven’t, and this week they proved just how completely detached from reality they truly are.

It started on Monday, the first day of the fall sitting of the legislature, when we used question period to hammer the government over its summer of inaction on the healthcare crisis. We cited the horrific realities people are facing — hours-long waits for an ambulance or for emergency room care, if the ER is even open at all; the worst walk-in clinic wait times in the country; hundreds of thousands of people unable to get timely medical imaging; one in five British Columbians without a family doctor; and people dying at home or in hospital waiting rooms because they can’t get care quickly enough.

Instead of taking accountability, once again Health Minister Adrian Dix tried to defend himself and his government. Instead of admitting our healthcare system is in freefall, he continued to throw out talking points and proclaim his government has raised healthcare standards. Huh? Does he honestly believe British Columbians will buy that, when day after day we hear more stories of people suffering the impacts of a crumbling system? It’s quite unbelievable for Dix to think anyone will believe health care is in a good state right now. We’ve called on him to take responsibility for his failures and resign.

On Tuesday, we turned our attention to crime which continues to spiral out of control in our communities. As we rattled off a laundry list of violent offences — a sword attack on an Abbotsford gas station clerk; an offender with 220 police files in Kelowna, released again; women with their kids in strollers, having rocks hurled at them in Vancouver — Attorney General Murray Rankin had the gall to say, “simply arresting people out of the situation, we know, is going to be futile.”

Minister Rankin, like his colleague, Minister Dix, has shown he just doesn’t get it. Criminals need to be arrested, and they need to face actual consequences for their actions. It’s what law-abiding British Columbians expect and deserve. People are sick and tired of the NDP’s ‘catch and release’ justice system — which has former attorney general David Eby’s fingerprints all over it — and want change now. Eby was the one who literally wrote a manual on “How to Sue the Police” — and this is who the NDP brass have chosen to be the next premier of our province. It’s frightening.

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: North Shore BIA working hard to develop a 'happening place'

2h ago

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

What’s clear from both ministers’ answers this week is that neither wants to be accountable and do the right thing. This NDP government is never going to fix the major problems plaguing this province because they clearly don’t understand them — or worse, they simply don’t care. And that means people desperate to access timely medical care, or feel safe in their own neighbourhoods, will continue to suffer.

——

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or Pattison Media.