BC NDP expected to be in the hot seat as fall Legislature sitting begins
Posted October 6, 2025 7:47 am.
Last Updated October 6, 2025 7:44 pm.
Monday marks the first day of the fall sitting at the B.C. Legislature, and with multiple crises playing out province-wide, you can expect some fires during Question Period.
Over the weekend, the ER at the hospital in Delta closed temporarily for the fourth time this year, due to what the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) says was a staffing shortage.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!Delta City Coun. Dylan Kruger said the closure was not an “operational issue, but a public health emergency.”
He has sounded the alarm on ongoing ER closures before, including calling for an urgent care centre to be opened in the community.
“One time is unacceptable. Four times is [indicative] of a serious issue. The system is broken. Delta residents and the province of B.C. deserve much better than what they’re getting from the Ministry of Health,” Kruger tells 1130 NewsRadio.
He says he’s tired of asking the province to step up.
“I don’t feel listened to, and frankly, I’m tired. I’m tired of issuing calls for the province to step up. I’m tired of asking the province to take responsibility and fix the system. I’m tired of this repetition over and over and over again. This is a major hospital in a major metropolitan area. People have an expectation that in a country like Canada, you pay your taxes and you get access to services like emergency room health care. It shakes people’s faith in our system.”
On Monday morning, Kruger called for city council to declare a public health emergency in the city. His motion will go to council Monday evening.
“We have to do this now. We have to make a bold statement to get the attention of decision-makers in Victoria and at the Ministry of Health. Platitudes aren’t good enough. Talking points aren’t good enough. We need to know, ‘What is the plan today to make sure we don’t see a closure of our ER ever again, and the 110,000 people who live here will get access to the medical care that they need and deserve?'”
Kruger claims Health Minister Josie Osborne turned down a meeting to discuss the crisis in Delta at last week’s UBCM.
“Step one in leadership is showing up to have those difficult conversations. The minister and the ministry are not showing up,” said Kruger.
CityNews hit the streets to find out how people were feeling about the latest closure — and many are concerned.
“There’s a large amount of elderly that live in our community, and for them to not have that is shocking, really,” said one woman.
“I don’t think it’s being looked at as an emergency. And it is an emergency. We also don’t have an urgent [care] clinic here,” added another.
The governing BC NDP must also answer for a sluggish provincial economy and rising debt.
Last month, Finance Minister Brenda Bailey forecast a record-high deficit of almost $11.6 billion for the first quarter of the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
Meanwhile, British Columbians face an affordability crisis and a wave of labour disputes, including the BC General Employees’ Union, Canada Post, Air Canada, and even the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra musicians have added to the strain.
Across the aisle, the embattled BC Conservatives Leader John Rustad has been fighting for his political career.
The party is coming off the firing of high-profile MLA Elenore Sturko, in addition to a handful of other MLAs who left caucus earlier this year. There’s been ongoing infighting that spilled out publicly, while Rustad only just survived a leadership review vote.
In a recent sit-down interview with OMNI News, Rustad claims he’s ready for the next provincial election.
“As a political party, we need to present to British Columbians that we are government-in-waiting, that we have good policies and approaches that are going to make a difference in people’s lives, that are going to actually improve what we’re seeing in British Columbia, so people can be proud once again to be British Columbian. People would want to stay here and to be able to build a future here. And if there are individuals who have a different perspective… takes priority, then they’re not going to be a part of our organization.”
The next provincial election is slated for the fall of 2028.
—With files from Mike Lloyd and Shailee Shah
