Big money for UBC Okanagan

Rebecca Barton - SUN FM

UBCO is getting nearly $150-million worth of new buildings. A new $32-million Health Sciences Centre is part of the province's Southern Medical Program and will train doctors in the Okanagan for the first time ever. Fourth year pre-med student Gavin Docrity says he was happy to hear he'll be able to finish his education at home. "I was tremendously excited for the potential to continue my studies in Kelowna and to finish my education and one day work and give back to the community in which I had been raised." Premier Gordon Campbell was onhand for the announcement this afternoon and says doctors tend to stay where they were trained.
"A lot of people, when they start working in these communities - stay here. They stay here not because they have to, but they stay here because they love it here. It's one of the things that's important as we do the capital expansions not just in Kelowna but in Vernon and in other parts of the province." The medical centre will open in 2011 and will accommodate 32 first-year med students. Today's announcement also includes a $42-million Arts and Sciences Building, aswell as $74-million for an Engineering and Management facility.