Join the E-Newsletter – Notes on City Council

Why I Voted Conservative in 2024

For the first time (since becoming a citizen in 2014), I did not vote for the NDP. While shifting from centre-left to centre-right is more nudge than hard turn, the centre-right party that I joined, after leaving the NDP, folded a week later.

With the “virtual ink” on my BC United membership card barely dry, I faced a stark choice: The government party or the hard-right party.

With no centre party to vote for, I ended up voting for the BC Conservatives. Deciding to vote for the BC Conservatives wasn’t an easy decision — especially not after a lifetime of service to the labour movement and a continuing commitment to helping build and sustain an effective public sector that works for everyone.

Now, with the NDP facing a razor thin victory, the question is this: Will we see a humbled NDP — one that focuses on delivering on the basics that residents and businesses need? Or does the NDP consider its (likely) razor thin victory a vindication, a victory against accountability — a victory for “more of the same”?

MLA Jennifer Rice called me a couple of weeks into the campaign to ask me why I wasn’t backing the NDP. My answer: Health care. We don’t have enough doctors. We cannot depend on the emergency room being open. The health care system is broken and needs fixing. After seven years in government, the blame goes to the elected government of the day.

To Be Universal, Universal Health Care Must Work

I support universal health care. I appreciate the benefit of having a government monopoly in the provision of an essential and necessary service like health care. But when a monopoly is granted to any essential system — be it public or private — this comes with a certain caveat: The monopoly must deliver, especially when lives and health are at stake.

Otherwise, we are left with no alternative. That’s an abuse of power. It’s also a dereliction of duty, an exercise in inexcusable political and bureaucratic indifference to the needs of citizens and residents — to the needs of people who have only one health care option available to them, thanks to a health care monopoly that’s been put in place by the government that should be providing needed care in the first place.

The bottom line is this: If an ER closure costs you thirty minutes in delay to getting to urgent care, and that ends up costing you your life, it won’t matter who you blame for this, because at that point the only matter for you is the fact that your life was cut short.

The operators of the life-needed and government-granted monopoly of health care, such as those who operate health care facilities in the communities of the North Coast-Haida Gwaii Electoral District, have a sacred duty to deliver. Our lives — quite literally — depend on this.

A couple of days ago I got another call from the NDP — asking me to donate money to the party. I told the caller that I wasn’t voting NDP, I was no longer a member of the party, and that I was voting Conservative in this election. In previous NDP campaign calls, saying all of this politely ended the call. But this NDP canvasser pressed on.

Why, he asked, did I quit the party?

My answer: The lack of doctors in Prince Rupert.

The canvasser pushed back. He asked, how had I been “misinformed” of this?

My response: This is our region’s reality. Many of our doctors moved out at the start of the summer. We cannot count on the emergency room given so many closures over the past few months. My town is in the midst of a health care crisis.

I said that I deserve better. I don’t have a family doctor. I cannot depend on the emergency room being open when I need it most. The NDP needed to do better to earn my trust and vote. Finally, after hearing all this, the canvasser politely ended the call and hung up.

Our Region Voted for Hope, We Need More

I understand why many people, including a majority of voters in the North Coast- Haida Gwaii Electoral District, voted NDP and supported MLA-elect Tamara Davidson in this election.

Why this electoral district voted for her, despite the health care shortages throughout the region caused under her party’s government, the ongoing lack of clean water in the region’s biggest city (again, while her party was in power), and the failure on early intervention supports for our most vulnerable children and families (under her party’s government), makes sense given the alternative and our community’s desire for hope.

Despite her party’s many failings in government, MLA-elect Tamara Davidson presented a clear alternative as a representative, especially in contrast to the Conservative candidate running in our district. But more than this, the NDP represents hope to a lot people here. We collectively pinned our hopes to MLA-elect Tamara Davidson’s promise of leadership, compassion, and professionalism as our future MLA.

The election is over. It looks like the NDP may have another chance at governing — at least in the immediate future. But the hard challenges we face in health care are not over. These hard challenges stem from a mix of demographic shifts, retiring professionals, skill shortages (lack of training and education), changing economics, bureaucratic bungling, and challenges specific to Northern Health and the region. Hard right rhetoric won’t fix any of this. But neither will mere hope, kind words, and the continued status quo.

Like those who voted NDP, I am hopeful. I am hopeful that this election will serve as a wake up call to those in charge of delivering on government services that we rely on to live – it’s time for politicians and bureaucrats alike to wake up to the urgent crisis that communities throughout the province face. Save public health care or we will lose it. There is no time for distraction and division. Let’s solve the crisis — together and for everyone — starting now.

Image Source: Nick Youngson