Editor:
MLA Nicholas Simons (“A victory for some,” Letters, Nov. 22) rightly says that the 2016 VCH-Trellis contract sparked outrage on the Sunshine Coast. So too has his government’s continuing betrayal of pre-election promises and contempt for the wishes of our community.
After almost three years of NDP rule, stakeholders are still shut out of the decision-making process. Undeterred by the fiasco that the Trellis deal has become, the NDP remains steadfastly committed to privatizing care and will complete its current term without having created a single new long-term care bed on the Sunshine Coast.
As he has done in the past, Mr. Simons makes claims about supposed improvements to the home care system that are greatly at odds with the reality of home care on the Coast. The discrepancies are addressed in a letter reprinted on our website (pphcare.ca).
Mr. Simons seems proud of the fact that Health Minister Adrian Dix has committed to protect jobs, wages and benefits of the current workforce if the Trellis deal goes ahead. We would remind him that such protections are necessary only because his government is attempting to remove the option of public care from our community.
Yes, Dix’s agreement with the health unions is unprecedented, but so is the attempt to turn public care into the hands of a private, for-profit corporation. That’s something that when in Opposition Mr. Simons strongly condemned.
Simons makes no mention of other harmful consequences of privatization that he once decried, including extra costs to families and the impact on volunteer services. Perhaps these are among the “remaining concerns about the Trellis project” that he says he will relay to Minister Dix.
We appreciate the offer, Mr. Simons, but if your government honoured its commitment to stakeholder consultation, we would have no need of your intercession.
Wendy Hunt, Protect Public Health Care - Sunshine Coast
