A second medical school promised by the BC NDP will be established at Simon Fraser University's (SFU) Surrey campus.
"We have to build a health care system that's ready not just now, but for generations to come," said NDP Vancouver-Kingsway candidate Adrian Dix.
The school would be the second medical school in B.C. and would focus on future health care needs, such as primary care and population health, said Dix.
It would be established in partnership with the Fraser Health Authority, and include a partnership with the First Nations Health Authority to develop training that addresses needs in Indigenous communities.
Learning centres would run across the Fraser Health region, which is B.C.'s fastest growing health authority, according to Dix, who has served as minister of health under the NDP since July 2017. The medical school's first class of graduates could be in 2023-24.
"This is about building the British Columbia we need in the future," said Dix, acknowledging Surrey's population growth and the region's projected growth over the next decade and a half.
"Many people say that the future of B.C. is in Surrey, and this is an exciting example of how that will be."
The BC NDP has also committed to build a new hospital in Surrey. The "state-of-the-art" facility would be based in Cloverdale, and would include a regional cancer centre.
"People deserve to have better care close to home," said Mike Starchuk, BC NDP candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale.
