B.C. parties split over health care spending as emergency rooms close and wait times hit records

Healthcare dominates the B.C. election as emergency rooms close across the province, wait times for specialists hit all-time highs, and more than one-fifth of residents have no primary care provider. An Angus Reid Institute poll ranks healthcare as the number one issue for voters.

Premier David Eby's NDP is proposing no cuts to healthcare and pledging 20 new primary care clinics across the province, a third hospital in Surrey, eight new MRI machines, 10 CT scanners, and mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios enshrined in law. The party also promises loan forgiveness for doctors and nurses willing to work in rural areas and expanded Kelowna General Hospital. The NDP plans to fund these commitments through a new tax bracket on the province's highest-income earners.

The BC Conservatives, led by Lorne Doerkson, pledge to "fully fund" public healthcare without tax increases. They propose 11 primary care clinics, a women's and children's hospital in Surrey, a $50 million fund to keep rural emergency rooms open, and improved access to rural medical transport. The party also commits to funding private surgical treatments when government wait-time benchmarks are exceeded—a proposal that Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives researcher Andrew Longhurst warned "risks really undermining the public hospital system" and "reducing equitable access to surgical care."

The BC Greens promise to build a Community Health Centre in every riding and legislate mandatory nurse-to-patient ratios. CentreBC pledges to get everyone a family doctor by 2031 while slashing bureaucratic administration. OneBC proposes allowing private healthcare into the province and updating vaccine protocols.

Rural communities have been left out of healthcare planning, and the healthcare worker shortage remains acute across the province.