Dear Editor
Re: Operating room for Burnaby Hospital, Sept. 2, 2015
It was shocking to see Pam Gardiner and Richard Lee credited for getting a new operating room at Burnaby Hospital. That would be the same Pam Gardiner who, along with disgraced Liberal operative Brian Bonney, attempted to use the hospital as a political tool before the last election. A three-page secret plan, penned by Gardiner and Brian Bonney included the following: “only Burnaby Hospital can deliver a seat, Burnaby Deer Lake, taking out Corrigan and helping us keep two tight swings, Burnaby North and Burnaby Lougheed.”
But the really telling paragraph relates to their plan to have Christy Clark, Richard Lee and Harry Bloy tour the hospital, announce a committee to look at the issue “without committing $$ and buy us time to do some polling and confirm this is a winning issue.”
All of that happened, and, true to the plan, no dollars have been committed to rebuilding Burnaby Hospital.
The Liberal government has their own report dating back to 2001, the same year Richard Lee was elected, saying that Burnaby Hospital is seismically inadequate, the infrastructure is aged and that the hospital needs to be rebuilt.
What have we had from the B.C. Liberals? Nothing.
The results? 84 c. difficile deaths that the medical staff at Burnaby say were related to the aging infrastructure.
New Democrat Leader John Horgan has said that the third largest city in the province deserves a rebuilt hospital, and he would deliver on that promise.
As he said in an interview last year: “let’s get on with it.”
Kathy Corrigan, New Democrat MLA for Burnaby-Deer Lake
