Well now I am going to go play with henry...mom your in charge :lol: :lol: But since campbells broken promises are not really broken promise as sig says...I will post a few more. 
I will have lots more tomarrow
Their Promise: Public health care workers need not worry that a Campbell government would privatize their jobs and health services.
When asked whether health workers were right to have the sense that "a Gordon Campbell government would be the privatization of health care services and their jobs", Gordon Campbell answered:
" I don't think they have to worry about it. Their sense should be that Gordon Campbell and
the B.C. Liberals recognize the importance of HEU [Hospital Employees' Union] workers to the public health care system.... They are frontline workers who are necessary. You can't talk to anyone in the health care system who doesn't recognize that and I want HEU workers, like other workers in the public health care system or in the public service to recognize their value and we will value them.... I found [as Mayor of Vancouver] that the workers in the city, nine times out of 10, were providing way better value in terms of what we were doing than "private" sector workers would."
When asked directly whether a health worker had "anything to worry about in terms of privatization from a Gordon Campbell government?", Campbell replied:
"I say no. What she's going to find is that people in British Columbia and the government are recognizing the value of the work she does. More importantly, she's going to find the quality of work she's able to do is more rewarding and fulfilling."
Their Record: Thousands of jobs privatized, massive firing of public health care workers.
Liberal-appointed health authorities are contracting out health services to fiercely anti-union, low wage multinational corporations who want to get rid of all existing staff.
"Im saying its everybody and I ain't hiring them. I mean, now you got a huge problem, we're trying to figure where to get all these bodies from but the ah, you can't be hiring people with those kind of pays and benefits and think they're going to come and work for you for ah, a third of the cost you know and be happy. I'm very much saying we're getting rid of everybody." Spencer Green, Regional Operations Director, Sodexho, transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative he was encouraging to consider a sweetheart contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 11. (The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf)
Their Promise: The Liberal plan for health care will recognize the value of health care workers.
"The first part of the [Liberal healthcare] plan is to recognize the foundation for a good, strong public health care system is people. It's pretty stressful for HEU [Hospital Employees' Unon] workers. There are days when they go home and they're exhausted and they wonder how they are going to start the next day. I think they are trying to provide excellent service and they understand how important the service is to people."Gordon Campbell (Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
The Liberal Record: Allowing health authorities to contract out to private health corporations notorious for unsanitary conditions in the hospitals they maintain.
"So we take away all these quality issues in health care and all that stuff, and after we give the 60 days notice, you're going to roll into the rest of the hospital. That's their [the Liberal-appointed health authorities'] intent...The one up North we put a proposal together basically said about a third of the labour force, roughly, ah needs to come out if you want to meet industry standards in terms of productivity...you know they want to deal with all the workload issue bullshit and all that other stuff, then they'll look at contracting out."Spencer Green, Regional Operations Director of Sodexho (Source: Transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative Sodexho was encouraging to consider a "sweetheart" contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 6. The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf)
Promise: Health workers do not have to worry about privatization
When asked whether a 48-year old housekeeper who has finally won pay equity after decades of struggle has anything to worry about in terms of privatization from a Gordon Campbell government, Campbell answered:
"I say no. What she's going to find is that people in British Columbia and the government are recognizing the value of the work she does. More importantly, she's going to find the quality of work she's able to do is more rewarding and fulfilling."(Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Privatizing health care services to slash wages by one third.
"I mean they're already paying $17 now, the reason that they're getting rid of the existing staff is to get rid of the existing deal ...Now when I did the Children's one, uh you know I bid it between $9 to $10.50. That's where the range over the course of the deal was."Spencer Green, Regional Director, Sodexho (Source: Transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative Sodexho was encouraging to consider a "sweetheart" contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 5. The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf
Their Promise: The government will work with non-profits to create 5000 additional residential care beds for seniors.
"A BC Liberal Government Will: Work with non-profit societies to build and operate an
additional 5,000 new intermediate and long term care beds by 2006."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 25 http://www.bcliberals.com/Campaign_2001/Platform.shtml
"If you don't provide the home care people need, if you don't provide the facilities so that people can move in, then frankly what you are doing is pushing a lot of health care problems out on to the street. And they're coming back as acute issues, back into the hospital, which we don't want."(Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Redefining the promise to mean drastically reduced care for seniors.
"The Liberals yesterday released a cabinet document that slightly changed the wording of this promise, giving it a drastic new meaning. The new wording now says the Liberals will 'build and operate 5,000 new intermediate- and long-term-care spaces by 2006'. Notice that the word 'additional' has been dropped. That's because while the Liberals are creating their cheaper, stripped-down 'supportive-living' units, they will be eliminating nursing-home beds. So nothing is being 'added' at all. 'Additional' means adding to the existing number of beds, not cutting them back. This is a clear broken promise. Notice also that the word 'beds' has been changed to 'spaces.' That's because some seniors will attend adult day care instead of being admitted to a nursing home, but the Liberals want to count them as part of the 5,000." Columnist Michael Smyth (Source: The Province, April 23, 2002)
Their Promise: The Liberals won't close private seniors' residences.
"I am certainly not going to close down private seniors' facilities, we need them." Gordon Campbell (Source: Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
The Liberal Record: Closing private as well as public seniors residences.
In an effort to make seniors' care as cheap as possible, even privately owned seniors' residences are being cut. North Vancouver MLA Katherine Whittred, minister responsible for long-term care, defended the closing of the 217 bed privately owned Capilano Care Centre as needed because moving seniors into "assisted living" arrangements would be 50% cheaper. A spokesperson for the facility, Lynn Krutzfeldt, said:
"These people can't be looked after by assisted living. Over 85 per cent of the people in Capilano Care Centre are over 85 years old. They are frail. Many have dementia. Our priorities are the residents, our staff and the facility. But for the government it's strictly about money."
Eighty-seven year old resident Maggie Semerdjian commented "It's terrible Cut, cut, cut. It's not what you do to old people."(Source: The Province, "Big business joins chorus against Liberal health plans", April 19, 2002)
Promise: Health policy will be based on long term planning.
"We have to have a long?term health plan that looks at human resources, at capital plant, and machinery and equipment. If I have heard one thing in our dialogue for health care, it is that there is no plan."Gordon Campbell (Source: Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Cuts were implemented without any plan for dealing with their impacts.
For example, after Kimberley Hospital was closed, Cranbrook Regional immediately experienced a rush of new patients that it was not equipped to cope with. The Mayor of Kimberley criticized closing of the town's hospital before Cranbrook Regional was ready to deal with all the new patients. "If they want to have regional health care, they should have stated their goal and said that Kimberley Hospital will shut down when Cranbrook is ready to deal with the extra patients." (Source: Kimberley Daily Bulletin "Ogilvie meets briefly with premier", May 23, 2002)
When Katherine Whittred, the minister responsible for long term care, was asked how many residential care beds would be taken out of service while the new ones were being added, she said "That is something I do not know." (Source: Vancouver Province, "Promises? Libs couldn't care less", April 26, 2002)
Minister of Health Colin Hansen had to admit he did not know what his government's commitment on residential beds really meant.(Source: Vancouver Sun, "Hansen fouls up on flexible Liberal math", April 26, 2002) Columnist Michael Smyth commented: "This week's embarrassing, bungled performance by the two cabinet ministers responsible -Katherine Whittred and Colin Hansen -- is further proof that the strategy is poorly planned. That is, if there's been any planning at all." (Source: Vancouver Province, "Promises? Libs couldn't care less", April 26, 2002)
Promise: No seniors will be moved from a residential care home without consultation with them and their families.
"No resident will be moved without an individual care plan that's agreed upon by the family." Katherine Whittred, Minister of State for Intermediate. Long-term and Home Care, (Source: Vancouver Sun, April 25, 2002)
"Anyone that's in these facilities, there will be an individual care plan that will be developed with that individual and their family to meet the needs of that individual and they will be taken care of...If a senior is going to be moved, they will be moved to a facility that more appropriately meets their needs." Gordon Campbell (Source: CKNW, April 24, 2002)
Their Record: Seniors forced to move, split up from their spouses, families not consulted.
Moberly Manor in Revelstoke was closed and its residents moved without even giving them 30 days notice. After a public uproar, the health authority had to back down.
Couples were separated in the rush to close health facilities. Alfred and Grace Potvin, who had been together for sixty years, were moved out of Chilliwack's Parkholm Lodge which the health authority is closing and into rooms with strangers in another facility. Alfred Potvin told the media: "I think we should all get together and buy Campbell a homestead in Tuktoyaktuk. What Campbell is doing is wrong. He's doing exactly what he was criticizing the NDP for. Only he's doing it worse." (Source: Vancouver Sun, May 28, 2002)
Their Promise: To provide health care where and when people need it.
This is just a sample of the repeated promises the Liberals made to improve access to health care, particularly to rural British Columbians.
"My plan is to make sure that people get the care they need where they live and when they need it."Gordon Campbell (Source: HEU Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
"We can create a public education system that's the envy of the world and develop a public health
care system that meets the needs of all BC families, regardless of where they live." Gordon Campbell "We Can Work Wonders", BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 2
"A New Era of Leadership:We want our public health care system to guarantee all patients the care they need, where they live and when they need it."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 3
"Our Vision: High-quality public health care services that meet all patients' needs where they live and when they need it." BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 3
"A New Era for Health Care: We are going to be sure that people have the care they need, when they need it, where they live."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 21
"We Must Improve Emergency Care: Public health services are failing patients, even in matters of life and death. We need clear, provincial standards for accessible, reliable health services, and better acute care services, especially in emergency rooms." BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians p. 20
"We Must Solve the Rural Health Crisis: The rural health care crisis is placing a terrible burden on patients in communities throughout British Columbia.The provincial government has an obligation to ensure that all British Columbians get the level and quality of care that they are entitled to under the Canada Health Act. That means all citizens should have a comprehensive, publicly administered health care system that ensures high quality, timely health services are universally available and accessible to all throughout the province."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 21
"A Liberal Government Will: Establish a Rural and Remote Health Initiative to ensure all families get the care they need, where they live, when they need it."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, 22
Their Record: Reducing accessibility to health care, particularly for people in rural areas.
The reduced standards the Liberals introduced for health care accessibility provided the rationale for closing rural hospitals:
"A 1993 study concluded 99-per-cent of British Columbians live within 49 kilometres of a hospital. But the government's new Standards and Guidelines for Patient Services -- unveiled yesterday -- says basic in-patient hospital services must be available within 100 kilometres. How does this brave new standard improve things? Answer: It doesn't. It does, however, allow the Liberals to close hospitals around the province while still claiming to meet the standards." Columnist Michael Smyth (Source: The Province, April 23, 2002)
"It is very important the people in the region know if we are going to provide the health care they need, very often it doesn't happen in the community in which they live." Interior Health Authority chair Alan Dolman (Source: Nelson Daily News, "Nelson's Facility Reduced to 'Community Hospital' Status", April 24, 2002)
Promise: A Liberal government won't spend money to advertize their position on health care
In the fall of 2000, Campbell said "I'm not going to run ads saying what a great job we are doing in health care...When I look at how much money government spends on advertising I think people are appalled by that. It's not where they want their dollars to go. They think . . . we want you to provide us with a health care system we can count on. That is what your job is. It's not to advertise it."(Source: Vancouver Sun, "Campbell changes his tune on advertizing", May 3, 2002)
Their Record: Spending millions of tax dollars to promote the Liberal health policies.
At the end of April 2002, the Campbell government called for bidders to "supply strategic advertising and market research for campaigns focusing on health planning and health service themes." Estimates of the cost are $2 million, four times as much as the NDP spending Campbell criticized. Campbell said this would be "factual advertising, as opposed to political advertising." When asked if the other side would be presented, he said "There is no other side."((Source: Vancouver Sun, "Campbell changes his tune on advertizing", May 3, 2002)
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Promise: The Liberals will abide by negotiated agreements.
"First of all, I don't believe in ripping up agreements. I wasn't happy with the Health Labour Accord and I said that quite clearly in 1995. Having said that, I think the question today is how you maintain the quality and the talent of the people who are in this system. I have never said I would tear up agreements. I said I disagreed with the HLA and I did. That's just the way it was. I am not tearing up any agreements."
In response to the direct question: "So there will be no legislative initiatives to remove it from the Collective Agreement?", Campbell responded: "I don't plan on it, no."
Record: The Liberals tore up negotiated agreements.
In January, 2002 the Campbell government passed legislation that stripped educators and health workers of rights they had won through contract negotiations.
"Premier Gordon Campbell believes he is ripping up British Columbia in order to save it. What he is doing, on the evidence of the past weekend, is signalling that he can't be trusted.…even by his own steamroller standards,Premier Campbell violated a basic covenant on the weekend by forcibly rewriting legal, negotiated contracts that were still in force. If he is not prepared to respect so basic a legal agreement, whatother contracts is he prepared to rip up? This is not reform. It is legislative vandalism. "(Source: The Globe and Mail, "Campbell's Breach" January 30, 2002)
I will have lots more tomarrow Their Promise: Public health care workers need not worry that a Campbell government would privatize their jobs and health services.
When asked whether health workers were right to have the sense that "a Gordon Campbell government would be the privatization of health care services and their jobs", Gordon Campbell answered:
" I don't think they have to worry about it. Their sense should be that Gordon Campbell and
the B.C. Liberals recognize the importance of HEU [Hospital Employees' Union] workers to the public health care system.... They are frontline workers who are necessary. You can't talk to anyone in the health care system who doesn't recognize that and I want HEU workers, like other workers in the public health care system or in the public service to recognize their value and we will value them.... I found [as Mayor of Vancouver] that the workers in the city, nine times out of 10, were providing way better value in terms of what we were doing than "private" sector workers would."
When asked directly whether a health worker had "anything to worry about in terms of privatization from a Gordon Campbell government?", Campbell replied:
"I say no. What she's going to find is that people in British Columbia and the government are recognizing the value of the work she does. More importantly, she's going to find the quality of work she's able to do is more rewarding and fulfilling."
Their Record: Thousands of jobs privatized, massive firing of public health care workers.
Liberal-appointed health authorities are contracting out health services to fiercely anti-union, low wage multinational corporations who want to get rid of all existing staff.
"Im saying its everybody and I ain't hiring them. I mean, now you got a huge problem, we're trying to figure where to get all these bodies from but the ah, you can't be hiring people with those kind of pays and benefits and think they're going to come and work for you for ah, a third of the cost you know and be happy. I'm very much saying we're getting rid of everybody." Spencer Green, Regional Operations Director, Sodexho, transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative he was encouraging to consider a sweetheart contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 11. (The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf)
Their Promise: The Liberal plan for health care will recognize the value of health care workers.
"The first part of the [Liberal healthcare] plan is to recognize the foundation for a good, strong public health care system is people. It's pretty stressful for HEU [Hospital Employees' Unon] workers. There are days when they go home and they're exhausted and they wonder how they are going to start the next day. I think they are trying to provide excellent service and they understand how important the service is to people."Gordon Campbell (Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
The Liberal Record: Allowing health authorities to contract out to private health corporations notorious for unsanitary conditions in the hospitals they maintain.
"So we take away all these quality issues in health care and all that stuff, and after we give the 60 days notice, you're going to roll into the rest of the hospital. That's their [the Liberal-appointed health authorities'] intent...The one up North we put a proposal together basically said about a third of the labour force, roughly, ah needs to come out if you want to meet industry standards in terms of productivity...you know they want to deal with all the workload issue bullshit and all that other stuff, then they'll look at contracting out."Spencer Green, Regional Operations Director of Sodexho (Source: Transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative Sodexho was encouraging to consider a "sweetheart" contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 6. The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf)
Promise: Health workers do not have to worry about privatization
When asked whether a 48-year old housekeeper who has finally won pay equity after decades of struggle has anything to worry about in terms of privatization from a Gordon Campbell government, Campbell answered:
"I say no. What she's going to find is that people in British Columbia and the government are recognizing the value of the work she does. More importantly, she's going to find the quality of work she's able to do is more rewarding and fulfilling."(Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Privatizing health care services to slash wages by one third.
"I mean they're already paying $17 now, the reason that they're getting rid of the existing staff is to get rid of the existing deal ...Now when I did the Children's one, uh you know I bid it between $9 to $10.50. That's where the range over the course of the deal was."Spencer Green, Regional Director, Sodexho (Source: Transcript of a taped conversation with a union representative Sodexho was encouraging to consider a "sweetheart" contract to replace Hospital Employees' Union members, May 1, 2002 p. 5. The transcript is available at:
http://www.heu.org/telephone?steeves?spencer.pdf
Their Promise: The government will work with non-profits to create 5000 additional residential care beds for seniors.
"A BC Liberal Government Will: Work with non-profit societies to build and operate an
additional 5,000 new intermediate and long term care beds by 2006."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 25 http://www.bcliberals.com/Campaign_2001/Platform.shtml
"If you don't provide the home care people need, if you don't provide the facilities so that people can move in, then frankly what you are doing is pushing a lot of health care problems out on to the street. And they're coming back as acute issues, back into the hospital, which we don't want."(Source: Hospital Employees' Union Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Redefining the promise to mean drastically reduced care for seniors.
"The Liberals yesterday released a cabinet document that slightly changed the wording of this promise, giving it a drastic new meaning. The new wording now says the Liberals will 'build and operate 5,000 new intermediate- and long-term-care spaces by 2006'. Notice that the word 'additional' has been dropped. That's because while the Liberals are creating their cheaper, stripped-down 'supportive-living' units, they will be eliminating nursing-home beds. So nothing is being 'added' at all. 'Additional' means adding to the existing number of beds, not cutting them back. This is a clear broken promise. Notice also that the word 'beds' has been changed to 'spaces.' That's because some seniors will attend adult day care instead of being admitted to a nursing home, but the Liberals want to count them as part of the 5,000." Columnist Michael Smyth (Source: The Province, April 23, 2002)
Their Promise: The Liberals won't close private seniors' residences.
"I am certainly not going to close down private seniors' facilities, we need them." Gordon Campbell (Source: Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
The Liberal Record: Closing private as well as public seniors residences.
In an effort to make seniors' care as cheap as possible, even privately owned seniors' residences are being cut. North Vancouver MLA Katherine Whittred, minister responsible for long-term care, defended the closing of the 217 bed privately owned Capilano Care Centre as needed because moving seniors into "assisted living" arrangements would be 50% cheaper. A spokesperson for the facility, Lynn Krutzfeldt, said:
"These people can't be looked after by assisted living. Over 85 per cent of the people in Capilano Care Centre are over 85 years old. They are frail. Many have dementia. Our priorities are the residents, our staff and the facility. But for the government it's strictly about money."
Eighty-seven year old resident Maggie Semerdjian commented "It's terrible Cut, cut, cut. It's not what you do to old people."(Source: The Province, "Big business joins chorus against Liberal health plans", April 19, 2002)
Promise: Health policy will be based on long term planning.
"We have to have a long?term health plan that looks at human resources, at capital plant, and machinery and equipment. If I have heard one thing in our dialogue for health care, it is that there is no plan."Gordon Campbell (Source: Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
Their Record: Cuts were implemented without any plan for dealing with their impacts.
For example, after Kimberley Hospital was closed, Cranbrook Regional immediately experienced a rush of new patients that it was not equipped to cope with. The Mayor of Kimberley criticized closing of the town's hospital before Cranbrook Regional was ready to deal with all the new patients. "If they want to have regional health care, they should have stated their goal and said that Kimberley Hospital will shut down when Cranbrook is ready to deal with the extra patients." (Source: Kimberley Daily Bulletin "Ogilvie meets briefly with premier", May 23, 2002)
When Katherine Whittred, the minister responsible for long term care, was asked how many residential care beds would be taken out of service while the new ones were being added, she said "That is something I do not know." (Source: Vancouver Province, "Promises? Libs couldn't care less", April 26, 2002)
Minister of Health Colin Hansen had to admit he did not know what his government's commitment on residential beds really meant.(Source: Vancouver Sun, "Hansen fouls up on flexible Liberal math", April 26, 2002) Columnist Michael Smyth commented: "This week's embarrassing, bungled performance by the two cabinet ministers responsible -Katherine Whittred and Colin Hansen -- is further proof that the strategy is poorly planned. That is, if there's been any planning at all." (Source: Vancouver Province, "Promises? Libs couldn't care less", April 26, 2002)
Promise: No seniors will be moved from a residential care home without consultation with them and their families.
"No resident will be moved without an individual care plan that's agreed upon by the family." Katherine Whittred, Minister of State for Intermediate. Long-term and Home Care, (Source: Vancouver Sun, April 25, 2002)
"Anyone that's in these facilities, there will be an individual care plan that will be developed with that individual and their family to meet the needs of that individual and they will be taken care of...If a senior is going to be moved, they will be moved to a facility that more appropriately meets their needs." Gordon Campbell (Source: CKNW, April 24, 2002)
Their Record: Seniors forced to move, split up from their spouses, families not consulted.
Moberly Manor in Revelstoke was closed and its residents moved without even giving them 30 days notice. After a public uproar, the health authority had to back down.
Couples were separated in the rush to close health facilities. Alfred and Grace Potvin, who had been together for sixty years, were moved out of Chilliwack's Parkholm Lodge which the health authority is closing and into rooms with strangers in another facility. Alfred Potvin told the media: "I think we should all get together and buy Campbell a homestead in Tuktoyaktuk. What Campbell is doing is wrong. He's doing exactly what he was criticizing the NDP for. Only he's doing it worse." (Source: Vancouver Sun, May 28, 2002)
Their Promise: To provide health care where and when people need it.
This is just a sample of the repeated promises the Liberals made to improve access to health care, particularly to rural British Columbians.
"My plan is to make sure that people get the care they need where they live and when they need it."Gordon Campbell (Source: HEU Guardian Magazine, "Gordon Campbell Interview", November / December 2000 http://www.heu.org/cgi?bin/pi.cgi?t:/pubs/index.html)
"We can create a public education system that's the envy of the world and develop a public health
care system that meets the needs of all BC families, regardless of where they live." Gordon Campbell "We Can Work Wonders", BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 2
"A New Era of Leadership:We want our public health care system to guarantee all patients the care they need, where they live and when they need it."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 3
"Our Vision: High-quality public health care services that meet all patients' needs where they live and when they need it." BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 3
"A New Era for Health Care: We are going to be sure that people have the care they need, when they need it, where they live."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 21
"We Must Improve Emergency Care: Public health services are failing patients, even in matters of life and death. We need clear, provincial standards for accessible, reliable health services, and better acute care services, especially in emergency rooms." BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians p. 20
"We Must Solve the Rural Health Crisis: The rural health care crisis is placing a terrible burden on patients in communities throughout British Columbia.The provincial government has an obligation to ensure that all British Columbians get the level and quality of care that they are entitled to under the Canada Health Act. That means all citizens should have a comprehensive, publicly administered health care system that ensures high quality, timely health services are universally available and accessible to all throughout the province."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, p. 21
"A Liberal Government Will: Establish a Rural and Remote Health Initiative to ensure all families get the care they need, where they live, when they need it."BC Liberal Party Platform, A New Era for British Columbians, 22
Their Record: Reducing accessibility to health care, particularly for people in rural areas.
The reduced standards the Liberals introduced for health care accessibility provided the rationale for closing rural hospitals:
"A 1993 study concluded 99-per-cent of British Columbians live within 49 kilometres of a hospital. But the government's new Standards and Guidelines for Patient Services -- unveiled yesterday -- says basic in-patient hospital services must be available within 100 kilometres. How does this brave new standard improve things? Answer: It doesn't. It does, however, allow the Liberals to close hospitals around the province while still claiming to meet the standards." Columnist Michael Smyth (Source: The Province, April 23, 2002)
"It is very important the people in the region know if we are going to provide the health care they need, very often it doesn't happen in the community in which they live." Interior Health Authority chair Alan Dolman (Source: Nelson Daily News, "Nelson's Facility Reduced to 'Community Hospital' Status", April 24, 2002)
Promise: A Liberal government won't spend money to advertize their position on health care
In the fall of 2000, Campbell said "I'm not going to run ads saying what a great job we are doing in health care...When I look at how much money government spends on advertising I think people are appalled by that. It's not where they want their dollars to go. They think . . . we want you to provide us with a health care system we can count on. That is what your job is. It's not to advertise it."(Source: Vancouver Sun, "Campbell changes his tune on advertizing", May 3, 2002)
Their Record: Spending millions of tax dollars to promote the Liberal health policies.
At the end of April 2002, the Campbell government called for bidders to "supply strategic advertising and market research for campaigns focusing on health planning and health service themes." Estimates of the cost are $2 million, four times as much as the NDP spending Campbell criticized. Campbell said this would be "factual advertising, as opposed to political advertising." When asked if the other side would be presented, he said "There is no other side."((Source: Vancouver Sun, "Campbell changes his tune on advertizing", May 3, 2002)
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Promise: The Liberals will abide by negotiated agreements.
"First of all, I don't believe in ripping up agreements. I wasn't happy with the Health Labour Accord and I said that quite clearly in 1995. Having said that, I think the question today is how you maintain the quality and the talent of the people who are in this system. I have never said I would tear up agreements. I said I disagreed with the HLA and I did. That's just the way it was. I am not tearing up any agreements."
In response to the direct question: "So there will be no legislative initiatives to remove it from the Collective Agreement?", Campbell responded: "I don't plan on it, no."
Record: The Liberals tore up negotiated agreements.
In January, 2002 the Campbell government passed legislation that stripped educators and health workers of rights they had won through contract negotiations.
"Premier Gordon Campbell believes he is ripping up British Columbia in order to save it. What he is doing, on the evidence of the past weekend, is signalling that he can't be trusted.…even by his own steamroller standards,Premier Campbell violated a basic covenant on the weekend by forcibly rewriting legal, negotiated contracts that were still in force. If he is not prepared to respect so basic a legal agreement, whatother contracts is he prepared to rip up? This is not reform. It is legislative vandalism. "(Source: The Globe and Mail, "Campbell's Breach" January 30, 2002)
