Rustad says no plan for user-pay health as B.C. leaders campaign on Vancouver Island

B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad says he has no plan for user-pay health care in British Columbia, after the rival NDP released a recording of him calling the Canada Health Act "silly" for not allowing such a system.

Rustad told a news conference in Nanaimo, B.C., that the NDP's claim was "just another lie."

"We have never said that is what we’re going to be doing," Rustad said. "That would be contrary to the Canadian health act. We have not talked about that one little iota."

NDP Leader David Eby had earlier said Rustad was planning an "American style" user-pay model, saying he would let people "buy their way to the front of the line."

In the recording of an event that the NDP said happened in August, Rustad can be heard criticizing the Canada Health Act for not allowing a user-pay model and saying that "hopefully, one day we'll get some changes there."

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Eby told a campaign event, also in Nanaimo, that Rustad presented a risk to the health-care system at a time when the province had a shortage of health-care workers.

"Taking some of those health-care workers and putting them behind a paywall doesn't help," Eby said. "It just means that some people are able to buy their way to the front of the line while you and your family are stuck with less care. It's not a solution."

Rustad released his party's costings on Tuesday for a platform that makes no mention of a user-pay health-care model and instead promises a single-payer system delivering care through public and non-governmental facilities.

He said Wednesday that the system proposed by the B.C. Conservatives was based on European models where the government remains the only payer for health care.

"It’s universal health care, but it’s delivered by both government and non-government agencies," Rustad said. "And by doing that, we’re going to be far more efficient in terms of the services we can deliver, in terms of attracting and retaining the professionals that we need."

Rustad was in Nanaimo to announce a plan to expand the local hospital, including the construction of a new patient tower and the installation of a catheterization lab for heart-disease patients.

All three leaders of the province's main political parties had converged on Vancouver Island on Wednesday, three days out from election day.

Record numbers of voters have already cast their ballots in advance polling.

Elections BC said more than 181,000 people voted on Tuesday, breaking a record set on the first day of voting last week. The agency says 778,000 people had already cast their ballots ahead of Wednesday's final day of advance voting.

The NDP has long regarded the island as a stronghold, but Rustad has said he sees it as winnable territory, while both of the Greens' two current seats are on the island.

Eby was travelling the island for campaign events in Ladysmith, Duncan and Victoria, while Rustad was planning an evening campaign rally at a Nanaimo hotel.

On Tuesday, British Columbians finally saw the B.C. Conservatives' platform costings, which Rustad said would result in a deficit nearing $11 billion in the first year of government.

That is more than either the NDP or Greens forecast under their costings. Rustad said he would balance the books sometime in his second term with help from a predicted 5.4-per-cent annual economic growth.

On Wednesday, Rustad said the province would face “some pressure” in having a budget deficit if his party formed the next government.

He said he expected B.C.'s financial books to be "a mess" after the NDP government announced a deficit forecast of $8.9 billion in September.

But Rustad said the goal is to make sure taxpayers are getting the right services that are delivered efficiently before ultimately eliminating the deficit.

In the meantime, Rustad said his platform would get the provincial economy growing with strategic new spending, the reallocation of wasteful NDP funding to priority areas, and a core review and audit of NDP spending, including a revision of capital projects.

"Just a 0.1 per cent increase in our GDP would yield close to $400 million," Rustad said. "So it doesn’t take a lot before we start making a real significant difference in terms of how we’re going to be able to meet those deficit targets and to eliminate the deficit over two terms."

He called the NDP's spending "reckless" and said the government had "spent a lot on ideology," adding that a B.C. Conservative government would look at how a government contingency fund was being spent.

The NDP said Rustad's costings, released four days before election day, meant he would have to "cut supports for people" and he was "making it up as he goes along."

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Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau, who was in Victoria on Wednesday releasing a plan for food security and agriculture support, said that the B.C. Conservatives' platform proved it was not "a serious party."

"You have to ask yourself, 'Who do I want representing me, and who do I want making these decisions in this province?' And after the platform released yesterday, I would think that cannot be the B.C. Conservative Party," said Furstenau, whose food policy includes expanding food security programs, and creating agricultural water reserves and a universal school food program.

She had earlier said Rustad was relying on "magical thinking" by predicting 5.4 per cent growth, "without any plan on how to achieve this."

BC Stats, the government's statistical office, says B.C. had real GDP growth of 1.6 per cent in 2023.

The NDP and Green platforms would both boost the deficit by about $2.9 billion in the first year, resulting in a $9.6-billion budget shortfall.

The BC Teachers’ Federation and the Canadian Union of Public Employees British Columbia released a joint letter to members on Wednesday, encouraging them to vote NDP.

In the letter, BCTF president Clint Johnston and CUPE BC president Karen Ranalletta say that Rustad had "demonstrated a lack of respect" for the public school system.

“When we look at the platforms of the parties seeking to govern our province, we are encouraged to see three significant commitments in the BC NDP platform that we think are game changers," it said.

The letter said this includes Eby's promises of having a full-time counsellor in every school, an education assistant in every K-3 classroom and public delivery of affordable before- and after-school care in every district.

— With files from Nono Shen

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.