Leaders continue campaigns in full swing, making promises in healthcare, mining

Party leaders were out across B.C. Tuesday campaigning before next month’s provincial election.

The leader of the New Democratic Party of BC David Eby was in Terrace today marking the upcoming opening of a new hospital.

Eby says the new 78-bed Mills Memorial Hospital will open in November. He says it is a trauma level three hospital, meaning it can respond to people with traumatic injuries, sparing them the need to travel to Prince George or even Vancouver for treatment.

He says it will serve as a recruitment and retention centre for healthcare professionals in the community, and there will also be a 25-bed mental health facility on site.

Eby says his party will work night and day to make sure every resident in B.C. has good quality health care.

“British Columbians deserve high-quality care no matter where you live in the province,” he said to reporters. “It doesn’t matter if you’re in the middle of the Lower Mainland, or in the northwest of the province.”

The NDP also criticised BC Conservative leader John Rustad’s comments on the COVID-19 vaccine, saying he regrets taking it. It was revealed in a video allegedly taken in July and shared by Eby’s party on social media.

Eby alleges that Rustad doesn’t believe the vaccine is real. His party shared the video on social media again on Monday where Rustad is alleging that B.C.’s public health officer, Bonnie Henry, was not trying to stop the spread of COVID-19 but rather “shaping opinion and control on the population.”

“Today, further clips from the video showing that he believes that the COVID-19 vaccine is just a tool used by our public health officer, Bonnie Henry, to control the population,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rustad was in Cranbrook Tuesday unveiling their plans on how to revitalize the province’s mining sector. He promises to cut down on the bureaucracy within the industry.

“We need to get these mines open. We need the revenue, we need to be able to make sure that we can pay for additional tax relief,” Rustad said.

He says, that under the NDP, new mining projects take up to 15 years to get approved.

“We need to make sure we can pay for things like health care improvements and how we’re going to tackle crime and addictions and build that out, but we need the revenues, and that means we have to be laser-focused on getting mining opening in this province,” Rustad said.

Rustad says, if elected, his party will end redundant regulations and fast-track several new mining projects.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday the Green Party of BC promised several policy changes to address the toxic drug crisis in B.C.

If elected, party leader Sonia Furstenau says they will expand access to safer supply programs, regulate treatment and recovery programs, and improve drug education and mental health support in schools.