British Columbia’s new government was sworn in today and the Minister of Health, the Hon. Adrian Dix, will now determine the future of health care in our province. BC Care Providers Association is an avowedly non-partisan industry association that represents the majority of non-government providers of community care for seniors in the province. This includes well over 300 organizations delivering residential care, assisted living, home support, and commercial products and services.
During the most recent election campaign, all parties were sure to put forward robust platform ideas to improve seniors care in B.C. Delivering excellent seniors care has been a cornerstone of the BC NDP message before, during and after the May 2017 election. Just like our new government, we share a common goal of ensuring BC seniors receive the right care, at the right time of their lives, and in the right place.
**At the time of this post we still do not have access to the Minister’s mandate letter, but we will update it here when we receive access to it.
BCCPA has reached out to our new Minister and requested a first meeting to discuss a range of important topics relating to continuing care, such as B.C.’s action plan for seniors care, the pending “Bill 16” reforms for assisted living, and plans for the $10 million Seniors Safety and Quality Program being managed by our association. We have also been given assurances that the $500 million/4-year in new investments in seniors care made by the previous government will be carried forward.
We are also pleased to learn that MLA for Burnaby-Deer Lake Anne Kang is the new Parliamentary Secretary for Seniors. We will be reaching out to her soon.
On behalf of the board and staff of BCCPA, we would like to congratulate Minister Dix on his appointment, and we look forward to working with him in the months ahead.
