North Coast MLA Gary Coons blasted the government for its vicious and shortsighted budget in the Legislature last week, calling it a betrayal of rural British Columbians, seniors, students, and vulnerable children.
“This budget betrayed the people of Bella Coola because it offered them no hope of a solution to the shortage of vital medical personnel that has put people in their community at risk for much too long already,” said Coons, “The lack of investment in training capacity in northern rural communities makes even this government’s pathetic commitment to reasonable access to health care unattainable for this community.”
During August last year residents of the isolated central coast community were forced to contend with vastly reduced medical services, when one of their three doctors took a much needed vacation. There are only about 1.5 doctors per 1000 people in the Bella Coola valley, compared with 2.3 doctors per 1000 in Greater Vancouver.
“The funding committed so far to the training of new health care personnel won’t even cover the shortage in the Vancouver health care authority, let alone other regions of the province,” said Coons, “and it is very difficult to get people born and trained outside of rural regions to practice medicine in remote communities.”
The most notable items in the budget, according to Coons are the handouts to banks and big oil companies. Banks are set to get tax cuts worth $220 million, while oil companies are expected to reap more than $300 million in subsidies.
“This is a government that will not commit to paying for the training of new ambulance personnel, and refuses to offer a living wage to emergency response workers,” noted Coons, “But they have enough money in their budget to give hundreds of millions of dollars to the richest corporations in the province? That’s shameful. Really shameful.”
Coons was saddened by the budget’s focus on big breaks for big companies, but he wasn’t surprised.
“This government loves to make people rich at the expense of the public,” said Coons, “and that’s what this government continues to do as they line the pockets of big banks and the oil companies.”