Why I don’t believe Premier David Eby and the BC NDP have what it takes to fix the health care system

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Dr. Zafar Essak, MD - Vancouver, BC - November 29, 2024

I don’t believe Premier David Eby and the BC NDP have what it takes to fix our health care system and government. He hasn’t earned my confidence and there are more reasons to doubt.

After the election, Premier David Eby said he heard the voters and has learned; they need to do better, and they will. Was he just repeating lines to sound good or did he really get the message? Just look at his first actions.

For the first time in BC history, we see a prolonged delay after an election before the first sitting of the BC Legislature, now scheduled in February 2025; denying the opportunity for the Opposition, or any MLAs, to ask questions in the Legislature.

Meanwhile, actions are taking place during this prolonged delay.

NDP Premier David Eby announced the appointment of cabinet ministers and, for the rest of his caucus, gave them appointments as parliamentary secretaries, giving each of them an additional $18,000 per year from the public purse. This has never happened before in the history of the BC Legislature, where every caucus member is given an appointment with extra income.

It is financially irresponsible to give out more taxpayer money, at a time when everyone else in the province is struggling to make ends meet. It also comes when BC’s credit rating is the worst of all provinces in Canada, meaning BC has to pay higher interest on its rising debt of accumulated deficits that keep growing.

It is an abuse of privilege by Premier David Eby to spend more public funds to give all members of his caucus a gift.

Some may also ask: is it an abuse of privilege for all the NDP MLA’s to accept additional money from the public purse, having just been elected by people who are struggling to make ends meet and who want to see things done better?

Premier David Eby could have done what Opposition Leader John Rustad did when he appointed his shadow cabinet. Rustad also appointed everyone in his caucus to shadow different parts of government with none of them paid anything extra.

MLA’s are already well paid, with benefits and pensions, and allowances for a secondary residence, along with paid legislative and constituency assistants, a constituency office and travel.

Why do NDP MLA’s need to be paid more? Giving gifts like this may boost internal spirits and support but does nothing for taxpayers.

It also makes recipients more complacent. They are less likely to examine or consider things as closely, allowing things to be overlooked. Echoes from history of “let them eat cake”.

While the Legislature has yet to start its first session, we see these new reasons for concern and when combined with the actions of the BC NDP over the past four years, it raises serious doubts for me.

This is not an example of a renewed government with open dialog determining what’s best for the province. Unfortunately, it’s more of the same that we’ve come to expect: the making of decisions behind closed doors without debate.

I don’t believe Premier David Eby and the BC NDP have what it takes to fix BC health care or government without open dialog.

Web Links

https://globalnews.ca/video/10837959/global-news-hour-at-6-bc-oct-29-3/

First 6 minutes.

At 04:24 Keith Baldry reports on the ongoing questions of who may be picked for Speaker of the legislature.

https://vancouversun.com/news/david-eby-new-cabinet-significant-changes-...

Why is our health care system and government broken?

I decided to write a series of posts covering different aspects of our health care system and government to help us apply our thinking to the problems and solutions.

Dr. Zafar Essak, MD