The MLA for Kamloops-North Thompson says he’s disappointed the province made no mention of Kamloops in its new 10-year, Cancer Care plan.
BC Liberal Peter Milobar’s comments come following Premier David Eby’s $440 Million cancer care action plan announced last week, which saw no mention of the long-promised cancer centre in Kamloops which John Horgan promised during his 2020 election campaign.
“But here we are, three years later after a commitment where it should be open on year four, and we are still in the concept planning with no defined area it is going to go in, no defined scope, defined cost, who will pay for it or not,” he said. “It is disappointing, to say the least.”
“Directly after the election, the premier was on your radio station saying it was already a Treasury Board, and then he had to walk that back. Then it wasn’t even in the planning stage yet, and then they had to walk that back, and now we’re in the concept planning stage, which nobody really knows what that means.”
Milobar says he wants to see a definitive timeline soon.
“It’s not something that should be a political football. We all agree we need it. So let’s get on with the job,” he said.
“For a government that’s going to spend hundreds of billions of dollars over a four-year term in government to say that they can’t just say, here’s the 40 or 50 million we need to replicate what Victoria has in Kamloops as was promised, and let’s get on with the job.”
At the speed at which things are going, Milobar says “will be lucky” if we see a cancer centre built in Kamloops within the next four to five years.
“Families in our region can’t wait to order five of the machines in Kelowna that are being used by Kamloops residents right now. Those machines are aging out and they need to be replaced,” he added/
“We need to get on with this work and get it going and it is not a Kamloops versus Kelowna thing, health professionals in Kelowna agree that Kamloops needs a centre built as well because the volume has increased so much.”
Milobar adds he’s also surprised that the plan has less money than what was announced three years ago, despite the cost of construction doubling over the past few years.
