By Keith Lacey, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

With more than six million Canadians lacking access to a family doctor, healthcare accessibility has become a pressing issue across the country – including in the federal riding of Similkameen – South Okanagan – West Kootenay.

During Wednesday’s only scheduled candidates’ forum, held at the Cleland Theatre in Penticton, the topic of healthcare access was among several key issues discussed during the two-hour Q&A session.

“Access to healthcare remains top of mind for millions of Canadians, particularly in rural communities, where emergency room closures have become all too common,” said Michael Magnusson, executive director of the Chamber. “These issues impact not just the health and well-being of individuals, but also the viability of small towns.”

Magnusson posed the following question to candidates:
“What is your party’s commitment to public healthcare, and what strategies would you implement to increase access to family physicians, emergency services, and healthcare professionals in underserved regions like those within our riding?”

Burnout and bureaucracy
PPC candidate Barry Dewar said Canada’s complex healthcare system is plagued by doctor burnout, contributing to the growing shortage of physicians.

“We’re burning out our doctors — that’s why we don’t have enough,” he said. “More are retiring than coming in.”

He referenced South Africa, where his daughter has lived for over 17 years, as an example of a more efficient healthcare model where the doctors don’t handle any of the paperwork.

Dewar also cited repeated overnight emergency room closures at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver—where he has lived since 1983—as a serious concern.

Real people, real struggles
NDP’er Linda Sankey, who has served as executive director of the Penticton branch of the Brain Injury Society of British Columbia for over 22 years, shared a story from the campaign trail.

She met a resident in the West Kootenay area who needed a specialist and was forced to drive nine hours to Vancouver—often through fog and dangerous road conditions—with no guarantee of timely treatment.

“Flying out of Castlegar or even Kelowna is not affordable for many,” she said.

Sankey echoed Dewar’s call to prioritize the recognition of foreign-trained medical professionals at the federal level.

“Getting any doctor is a challenge right now,” she said. “We have folks living here, working jobs they’re overqualified for, because we don’t have a system to re-certify them efficiently. My party would fast-track re-certification for all types of healthcare workers.”

She also pushed back against growing calls for privatization.

“There’s been a push on the political right for more private healthcare. The NDP strongly opposes that. Our universal system isn’t perfect, but it serves the vast majority of Canadians better than a two-tier system ever could.”

Leadership and experience
Liberal candidate Gloria Morgan, who worked for more than a decade as an RCMP officer before becoming a lawyer and serving two terms as Chief of the Splatsin First Nation, said she wouldn’t pretend to have all the answers.

“I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I know everything or make empty promises about what I’ll do in Ottawa,” she said. “But I did serve on the provincial health services authority, just below the Minister of Health.

“We looked deeply at the issue of access, emergency department closures, and staff shortages.”

British Columbia needs at least 2,000 nurses to meet current patient ratios, she said, but the declining number of students in nursing programs is making that goal increasingly difficult.

Morgan highlighted a recent $52 million federal investment into 16 healthcare projects, including a foreign credential recognition program to fast-track international doctors and nurses and cut through unnecessary bureaucracy.

“I think that’s a great stride forward,” she said. “We must maintain our universal healthcare model. We don’t want privatization of any part of our healthcare system.”

A system under pressure
Green candidate Philip Mansfield acknowledged that millions of Canadians don’t have a family doctor and that an aging population is compounding the problem.

“Meanwhile, for-profit corporations are taking over more and more healthcare services,” he said.

The Green Party, he explained, would address healthcare issues by increasing stable federal funding, hiring more doctors and nurses, expanding home care, and ensuring access to reproductive care for all Canadian women.

“In many ways, we could solve some of these problems with better efficiency,” he said. “We’re not using our human resources well.”

Expanding the role of nurse practitioners to perform many duties traditionally carried out by family doctors is a step in the right direction, he added.

Conservative candidate Helena Konanz was not in attendance at the forum.

This article first appeared in the Penticton Herald.