Health Minister Adrian Dix announces a cancer care centre near Royal Inland Hospital, May 2023 (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Government often has the power at election time

Mar 15, 2024 | 6:00 AM

DURING THE TIME LEADING UP to an election, the government almost always has the hammer. As promises are made, we have to determine whether they are believable. And when the government makes them, they seem more believable because the government actually has the power to bring them to fruition. Opposition promises come across as more hollow.

Now, we all know promises can be unfulfilled no matter who makes them. The NDP this week promised a big new hospital tower in Surrey. A huge, very expensive project. But do we know how serious the promise is? As BC United leader Kevin Falcon suggests, there is no business plan in evidence and the idea seems to be just thrown out there just prior to the election. In 2009, the BC Liberals built a tower in Surrey and Falcon urged that planning get started on a second tower.

It isn’t a question of whether or not the tower is needed. It most definitely is. But with money in tight supply, and prices spiralling upward, the cost will be huge. And it will be much higher than the initial estimate. Based on the number of beds mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement, it’s believed this project will cost close to $1.5 billion — so we know, based on experience, the final cost will be well over $2 billion. That’s not to mention the cost of the state-of-the-art equipment needed and the huge staffing costs for specialized doctors and nurses to provide the level of care that this high level of sophisticated treatment requires.

And the crowning glory for the government is that they get to blame the former BC Liberal government for the problems in Surrey. Never mind the fact the NDP has been in power for more than enough time to make changes without waiting for an election to spring up.

Health Minister Adrian Dix says the details will be fleshed out over the next 12-to-18 months. That’s more evidence to back Falcon’s claim that this whole thing was quickly thrown together.

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Maybe the government will pull a Mike Harcourt. Remember when we were promised a cancer clinic and, right after an election, the promised proposal was withdrawn? A lot of Kamloopsians still remember that stab in the back. We’ve been promised the clinic several times and now that a business plan has been approved, at least we have something with teeth in it. But cost estimates are already well above initial projections, it will be built without a previously promised positron and won’t see its first patients until 2028. Business plans can be shelved at any time, put on hold or substantially changed at any time, rarely for the better.

You see, when you have a business plan, you have to be prepared to conduct business. That’s what the NDP government forgets when they make these hollow announcements.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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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.