Health-care groups criticize B.C. budget's unkept promises but express relief over lack of cuts

In the fall provincial election campaign, Premier David Eby and NDP candidates made bold promises for investments to improve the health-care system in order to address staff shortages and gaps in vital services.

But patient groups and health-care workers who spoke to CBC News say they are disappointed to see several key campaign promises absent from this year's budget, including money for new hospital towers in Nanaimo and Langley and the creation of a catheterization lab for cardiac care in Nanaimo.

Donna Hais, chair of the Fair Care Alliance, said that while she was happy to see the province's "recommitment" to funding a cancer centre and long-term care in the region, she feels the lack of investment in promised services will take a significant toll on the health of central and north Vancouver Island residents.

"I'm feeling a little bit disappointed and a little bit deflated," she said. "After decades of not paying attention to those of us that live in central and north Island, there should have been funding announced for our cath lab and our tower."

The Nanaimo hospital is 63 years old and unable to meet the growing demand of patients on the island, she said, while central and north Vancouver Island is the largest region in Canada without access to a cath lab, which diagnoses and treats heart conditions.

For the 460,000 people living north of the Malahat highway, Hais says this brings a greater likelihood of fatal outcomes from a stroke or heart disease.

More than $1.4 billion was earmarked in the 2025-2026 fiscal plan for health-care services, which several health advocacy groups and unions said was a relief to those in the industry who feared that rising affordability concerns and the threat of tariffs could mean cuts to funding.

With inflation, Ayendri Riddell, director of policy and campaigns for the B.C. Health Coalition said she estimated that, prior to the budget, there would need to be a five per cent increase in funding to maintain services. She said the actual increase was 4.6 per cent.

Over the next three years, B.C. is committing $15.5 billion to build and upgrade acute care, long-term care and cancer care facilities.

But missing from the budget was promised funding for B.C.'s first dedicated addictions treatment centre for construction workers, who make up one fifth of overdose deaths, and targeted loan forgiveness for health-care workers to entice them to stay in B.C..

The province also campaigned on expanding involuntary care. However, the extent of that commitment was not fully explained in the budget, which said the province would spend $500 million over three years "to support and sustain addictions treatment programs established through previous budgets."

The Ministry of Health declined to provide specific numbers on how many new addiction treatment and involuntary care beds would be added, saying in a statement that  "people can expect to see new treatment beds and supports continue to open based on funding in previous budgets."

B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said that while these projects do not specifically appear in the 2025 budget, it does not mean they are not a priority. She said more work has to be done before they can be specifically itemized.

"We've made commitments like [in] Nanaimo and other places where we have the business planning work still to do," she said. "So it is not true that they're not funded; it's just that work has to happen for them to be specifically listed."

In the face of tariffs, Osborne said that it's not a moment to cut health services. She said the province will be reviewing the cost of administration within health authorities to be able to prioritize funding for front-line services and staff retention through programs like loan forgiveness.

Dr. David Forrest, a critical care doctor in Nanaimo and president of the Medical Staff Association, says that he feels betrayed after NDP and Conservative candidates made the Nanaimo hospital tower a key commitment in both parties' campaigns. Even in light of Osborne's comments, he feels a lack of explicit commitment in the budget puts this project — which he says would take a decade to build — even further out of reach.

"If it's not in the budget, then there is not a commitment to a new tower in Nanaimo," said Forrest. "I feel we've been lied to."

Given the economic uncertainty and tariffs imposed by the United States, health-care industry staff say they had braced themselves for cuts to health funding this year.

Riddell said there were campaign promises she had hoped to see that didn't materialize — such as the removal of co-payments for home support.

But her main takeaway from the budget was a feeling of relief within her organization and others that the province had allowed current commitments for health services to continue. 

"I think that it's such a challenging time; our expectations were lowered," she said. "We were actually really, really reassured that they continued, and they tried to maintain, and we weren't looking at cuts."