UBCM resolution re Hospital Capital Cost Financing ??

Coun. Beardsell asked the Council to consider forwarding a resolution to UBCM that would have the capital costs of hospitals paid 100% by the Provincial Government. As Council has until June 30 to forward resolutions to UBCM any action was deferred pending a report to council on the history of hospital financing and other relevant data was prepared by staff. Council will take up his proposal at June 25 Council meeting.

To help in this effort I refer staff to postings in the following categories:
IHA or Hospital

Some postings are duplicated in these categories but ones I find of interest are:

• Minister of Health replies to Don Quixote E-Mail
• No promises made for hospital upgrade
• Victoria put on the hot seat
• Sunshine Tax confirmed by Health Minister
• MY OPEN E-Mail sent to Min. of Finance, Min. of Health and Tom Christensen 10/31. No answer yet !
• Say no to hand in your pocket
• Holy Shit Batman, It looks like I have to pay not only for Vernon Hospitals but also those in the Lower Mainland.
• SIERRA REPORT LOCATED FOR MLA

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What Coun. Beardsell is proposing is that the playing field in B.C. is made level so those municipalities and regional districts in the hinterlands and heartlands belly up to the bar to pay their share at the same rate as those cities and municipalities in the lower mainland. In the lower mainland that rate is zero, (0).

It is best summed up by Scott Neufeld of the Vernon Courier who wrote in Say no to hand in your pocket:

What’s interesting to note is that municipalities within the Greater Vancouver Regional District do not charge their citizens a property tax for hospitals. Instead the province has assumed their hospital debt. In plain terms, the provincial government collects money from all B.C. taxpayers to pay for Lower Mainland hospitals. But when it comes paying for hospitals in the rest of B.C., the message seems to be that if you want something – you’re going to have to pay for a lot of it yourself.

It’s time for the provincial government to stop legislating double-dipping from our pockets and start paying for 100 per cent of capital hospital costs. Failing that, stop siphoning cash from the wallets of Interior residents to build hospitals in the Lower Mainland that most people outside of Greater Vancouver will never see.