'That is their prerogative': Dr. Bonnie Henry on prospect of being fired by B.C. Conservatives

With the B.C. election too close to call, Dr. Bonnie Henry was asked Tuesday how she feels about the possibility of a party that has repeatedly called for her firing forming government.

The race remains a dead heat between the B.C. NDP and the B.C. Conservatives, with neither party securing the 47 seats required for a majority after the initial vote count.

Henry, the provincial health officer, acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the election but noted her office is independent, and said her role requires her to serve whichever government is in power.

"I will do my best to do that. If the party decides that they would prefer somebody who is more aligned with them, then that is their prerogative to do that," she said.

"While we wait for final results, my office and the work that we do will continue. What is most important to me, and one of the things that I'm focusing on right now is my role is to protect the health of everybody."

The B.C. Conservatives have called for Henry to be fired on multiple occasions for her handling of the COVID-19 pandemic – specifically vaccine mandates for health-care workers – and for her recommendation to significantly expand access to alternatives to the toxic street drugs that continue to kill an average of six people in the province each day.

COVID-19 vaccines and mandates

On the issue of vaccines, B.C. Conservative MLA Bruce Banman took aim at Henry as well as Premier David Eby and the NDP during question period in November of 2023, decrying the "medical tyranny" of the mandate for health-care workers.

"Question to this NDP Premier. Will you fire Dr. Bonnie Henry? Or do you want to wait for working class, everyday British Columbians to elect a Conservative government and fire you both?"

The province lifted the mandates six months later.

Henry was asked Tuesday if she has reflected on the restrictions and mandates imposed during the height of the pandemic, specifically if she would do anything differently in hindsight.

"I worry a little bit that we're in a phase of collective forgetting, which is not uncommon, after a major traumatic event. And all of us want this to be behind us and not have to think about this anymore, but I have done a lot of reflection about the things that we did to try and manage during times of great uncertainty," she said.

The tension between public health and safety and individual rights and freedoms, is something she says was always top of mind. As was an analysis of the negative downstream impacts of lockdowns.

"We know that there were extreme harms caused by this virus, particularly for older people, for people who were immune compromised, but we also know the impact of the measures that we put in place had differential negative effects on younger people, particularly," she said.

Still, she said achieving widespread immunization through vaccines was what made the critical difference and "made it so that we can live with this virus and stop some of the restrictions that were necessary at a time when we didn't have the protection from vaccines."

During the only televised leaders debate in the lead-up to the election, Eby – as he did on multiple occasions throughout the campaign – described Conservative Leader John Rustad and his party as anti-vaccine.

"When we were all rolling up our sleeves to get the vaccine to protect vulnerable seniors from COVID-19, When Bonnie Henry would work night and day to keep us safe during the pandemic, John Rustad and his candidates were providing donations to people who are protesting outside of hospitals – anti-vaxx convoy members," Eby said.

"John, it's embarrassing."

Rustad responded and said he is not anti-vaccine but rather "anti-mandate."

"I believe that people should have choices. It shouldn’t be thrust upon them, forced upon them or coerced," he said.

Safe supply and the toxic drug crisis

The B.C. Conservatives also called for Henry to be fired in July of this year after she released a report calling for the expansion of safe supply – specifically a model that would allow people to access clean drugs without a prescription.

The party described Henry's report as advocating for selling hard drugs, like methamphetamines, in government-run stores.

"This government would effectively be using taxpayer dollars to subsidize drug trafficking and there’s no oversight to where the drugs go after they’re sold,” MLA Elenore Sturko said in a news release where Rustad called for Henry to be removed from her position "swiftly and decisively."

The NDP government was quick to reject Henry's recommendations, as it has been when the coroner's death review panel similarly endorsed dramatically expanding access to safer supply.

During the debate, the B.C. Greens' Sonia Furstenau, pointed out that Eby and his government were seemingly selective when it came to following Henry's advice.

"It's interesting that David Eby says he listens to Bonnie Henry when it comes to COVID and when it comes to that public health emergency, but he rejects her advice when it comes to this public health emergency that is claimed 15,000 people's lives," she said.

The final count of votes in the provincial election will take place between Oct. 26 and 28.