Among the flurry of press releases sent our way last week was one from the B.C. government pledging to release $25 million in one-time funding to help clear a backlog of surgeries.
The government also threw in the promise of four new MRI scanners to be installed in 2018.
We wouldn’t be surprised if everybody in B.C. gets a bonus set of crutches before the election in May.
’Tis the season for provincial giveaways.
And who can blame the Liberals? Throwing money and promises of wonderful things to come is just part of greasing the cogs of democracy.
That and throwing mud at your opponents is, sadly, what voters have come to accept as the norm.
But back to health care. The government’s announcement is the second injection of funds in the past two years to try and cut down on waiting lists.
The government argues that there is an “unprecedented” demand for surgeries in B.C., and it’s got a point.
The problem is that this challenge is not new and the government had previously pledged to fix it. And, for some strange reason, other provinces seem to be able to manage their health care systems better.
In a report released last year by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, B.C. ranked near the bottom or last among all provinces in completing common surgeries in a reasonable time.
And, if you think that info is biased because it comes from a left-wing group, think again. A survey of Canadian doctors conducted by the right-wing Fraser Institute in 2016 found MRI wait times in B.C. are almost double the national average of 11 weeks.
NDP health critic Judy Darcy has rightly criticized the government’s wait-until-it’s-an-emergency manner of funding health care in B.C.
Darcy says, “Instead of one-time funding, they need to invest in health care over the long haul to seriously tackle this problem.”
She’s right, of course.
But now the pattern has been set, and it seems to work for the Liberals.
Taxpayers complain about waiting lists, and when it reaches critical mass, the government acts as if it’s doing everybody a favour by putting taxpayer dollars into the system.
More grease, more votes.
