File photo (image credit - CFJC Today)

By Michael Reeve

BC POLITICS

‘Results are what really matter’; Kamloops MLAs review year of change in provincial politics

Dec 23, 2022 | 11:00 AM

KAMLOOPS — “Announcements are one thing, results are what really matter and the results with this government have not been very good this year. They haven’t been good for the five and a half years they have been in power,” Kamloops-South Thompson MLA Todd Stone said.

A new premier of British Columbia was acclaimed by the NDP in 2022 as David Eby took over the reigns from the retiring John Horgan. As he came to power, Eby began a tour of the province, making funding announcements along the way.

“David Eby might be a new premier and he may be saying loudly and clearly that his priorities are healthcare, public safety, and affordability. But the point that British Columbians I think realize is that these are the same issues that this government, including David Eby, said they were going to focus on almost six years ago when they were first elected,” Stone added.

The BC Liberals made a leadership change as well. Back in February, Kevin Falcon was elected as leader of the official opposition. Falcon promised renewal and change within the party.

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“It has been a busy nine months with Kevin Falcon has our leader now. Our fundraising has really improved and picked up. We are having really quality people reaching out to us wanting to stand up with us in the next election. The name change is going through the procedural steps that need to happen,” said Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Peter Milobar said.

The big issues of 2022 centered around health care and community safety. In health care, one in five British Columbians are without a family doctor, while that number doubles to two in five in Kamloops., Also, the Interior Health region saw a summer of emergency room closures due to a lack of staff.

“Our hospitals are over-crowded, surgeries cancelled, waits for diagnostics, wait for cancer treatment, you name it. We have a system that is in failure right now. And so we needed some new perspectives in these portfolios that we haven’t seen,” Milobar said, noting Adrian Dix was not moved out of the healthcare ministry.

“We started this year really focused on what life was going to look like, fingers crossed, coming out of a pandemic. And we find ourselves kind of ending this year looking at healthcare, public safety, and affordability as the three key challenges that British Columbians face that this government continues to fail to make progress on,” Stone stated.

While the next provincial election in B.C. is not scheduled until the fall of 2024, both Kamloops area MLAs didn’t rule out the possibility of a snap election call from the NDP.

“This will be a big test of whether you can take the premier at his word or not. And in the space of a few months if he suddenly backtracks on that or finds an excuse, then I guess we know how much you can put faith into any of their campaign promises within that same election,” Milobar said.

The 2023 legislative year begins on Feb. 6, with Premier Eby’s first speech from the throne.