B.C. election: Conservatives vow new Surrey children’s hospital, NDP talks insurance rates

Monday might be a holiday for most British Columbians, but the leaders of the province’s two front-running political parties didn’t take the day off.

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad was in Surrey where he laid out the party’s last major policy plank before the October 19 vote: a promise to build a new children’s hospital.

“There is a desperate need for more services. Surrey is a city for too long that has been treated as a second-class city, and that needs to come to an end,” Rustad said.

“We need to be thinking not only of what needs to be done today but what needs to be done for the future.”

Rustad said Surrey Memorial Hospital currently treats an estimated 50,000 children per year, but was built with a capacity to treat just 20,000. He said up to 1,000 children every year are forced to travel outside of Fraser Health to get the services they need.

He said the new facility would include a pediatric emergency room and pediatric ICU, along with a maternity ward and women’s health centre.

Rustad was unable to estimate what the hospital would cost, save to say that it would be “quite an expensive project” but worth the “significant investment.”

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Rustad also said the Conservatives would release their long-awaited costed platform on Tuesday, five days before election day. The party has faced criticism on the campaign trail for delays in releasing the document after a series of spending announcements that did not include cost estimates.

BC NDP Leader David Eby was also in Surrey on Monday, where he attacked the BC Conservatives over their plan to end ICBC’s monopoly on auto insurance and to end no-fault insurance for serious injuries.

Eby touted his government’s changes to the province’s auto insurance system, which he said have reduced the average driver’s premiums by $500.

“We’ve also been able to return multiple rebates to British Columbians, most recently a $110 dollar rebate, and unlike other things in life, rates for ICBC are guaranteed to be flat for the next two years,” Eby said.

Eby said inviting private insurance companies into the B.C. market will result in higher costs for drivers.

He challenged voters skeptical of that claim to call family members in Alberta and Ontario to ask them what they pay to insure their vehicles.

BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau had no public events scheduled on Monday.

Monday’s campaigning came as pollster The Angus Reid Institute released its latest survey, which showed the BC NDP ahead of the BC Conservatives by five points as the race enters the home stretch.

The poll pegged NDP support at 45 per cent, Conservative support at 40 per cent and Green support at 12 per cent among decided and leaning voters and people who had already cast a ballot.

It found the NDP leading in various regions of the province, with healthcare emerging as the number one election issue.

Angus Reid Institute president Shachi Kurl noted that the NDP’s advantage on healthcare could influence the final days of the election.

The poll also highlighted the different strengths of each party on various issues.

The Angus Reid Institute Poll was conducted online between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13, among 2,863 adult British Columbians who are members of Angus Reid Forum. For comparison purposes only, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of +/- 1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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