PETERS: If the NDP government is nixing schools and pushing hospital builds, what’s next?

The district told CFJC it discovered it has options for moving students around it didn’t realize it had.

Even so, this decision knocks what was long the district’s top capital priority off the list.

The district’s focus will now turn to promoting a high school in Aberdeen to take pressure off Sa-Hali, SouthKam and Valleyview Secondary Schools.

It looks like belt-tightening is becoming a theme.

This is the same week the province cancelled the next phase of redevelopment for the Burnaby Hospital, as well as long-term care projects in Delta, Abbotsford, Chilliwack and Kelowna.

Scrapping or delaying healthcare builds at a time when the baby boomer bubble needs them most is a curious choice – and that’s putting it charitably.

If this is where the axe is falling, that definitely speaks to the kind of financial trouble the NDP government is in.

It begs the question – what’s next?

What other projects is the Kamloops area waiting on the province to fund that may now be on the chopping block?

Hundreds of rental units have been promised for the Columbia Precinct, as an example. Construction was slated to begin this year.

That lot has been cleared but we have yet to see shovels in the ground. Is its future in doubt?

Just as concerning is the lack of action on a replacement for the Red Bridge.

How easy would it be for the province to look at how traffic has flowed for the past 18 months, say, ‘Good enough,’ and kick the can down the road?

If this is the direction, it will save the tens of millions of dollars the government needs to cut from its spending.

Unfortunately, it’s communities like ours that will pay the price.

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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.

by James Peters

PETERS: If the NDP government is nixing schools and pushing hospital builds, what’s next?

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