What happened: In a campaign stop in Vancouver on Wednesday, BC NDP leader John Horgan reiterated the health care commitments his party promises to deliver if elected to power, and shared details of the NDP's 10-year cancer care plan.
Why it matters: Horgan said the pandemic has made clear the importance of B.C.'s health care system, and touted his government's record on health over the past three and a half years, and during the COVID-19 crisis.
In a campaign stop in Vancouver on Wednesday, BC NDP leader John Horgan reiterated the health care commitments his party promises to deliver if elected to power.
"COVID-19 has changed and challenged all of us in British Columbia," said Horgan, adding that the pandemic has made clear the importance of British Columbia's health care system.
"We need to make sure health care is faster, delivered close to home, and now more than ever we need to plan to do that."
On Tuesday, Horgan committed to building a new medical school, a 10-year cancer care plan and to creating an additional 7,000 jobs for new care workers in B.C. Those campaign promises were among the 154 commitments made in the BC NDP's platform, which was unveiled yesterday.
New cancer centres will also be established in Nanaimo and Kamloops, and existing facilities will be renovated and upgraded.
Earlier in his campaign, Horgan committed to purchasing four new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines for St. Paul's, Vancouver General, Ridge Meadows and Langley Memorial hospitals.
"We'll see real progress, quickly," he said.
In five years, Horgan says progress will be made on the NDP's 10-year cancer care plan. That includes ensuring patients will have with a single point of contact during their battles with cancer, hiring new clinicians, offering families genomic testing and improving access to care in rural communities.
Horgan took the opportunity on his campaign stop in Vancouver-False Creek to share some of the achievements his government has made over the past three and a half years, including establishing a new lunch cancer detection screening program, and adding regional cancer centres.
He touted his government's record on health, adding that B.C. has successfully bent the COVID-19 curve not once, but twice.
