A Healthcare System That Works For Us
Since 2024, Mission Memorial has closed 22 times, nine times in 2025 alone, forcing families to drive sick kids twenty minutes to Abbotsford Regional, which has been running at 128 per cent capacity, its hallways lined with patients waiting for care it cannot deliver. Folks in Harrison and Kent are already used to half-hour drives to Mission or Hope just to see a doctor. Across our riding, thousands of families have no family doctor at all, splitting pills and skipping doses of prescriptions they cannot afford to fill.
When the Medicare Act passed in 1966, the federal government agreed to fund half the system alongside the provinces, because working Canadians need to know when they’ve got a sick kid, or a senior that needs to see a doctor, they’ll actually be seen. Today the Canada Health Transfer funds just 21.5 per cent of all public healthcare spending. Politicians in Ottawa have been cutting quietly, blaming the provinces, and leaving working Canadians to pay the price; we are going to make them answer for it.
Hold Ottawa Accountable for Healthcare Funding
The original intent of Medicare was that costs would be shared 50-50 between the federal and provincial governments. Today the Canada Health Transfer makes up less than a sixth of all healthcare spending, and our healthcare system is in shambles because of it. In our riding, the consequences are impossible to ignore. Abbotsford Regional has been operating at 128 per cent capacity, well above the safe threshold of 90 per cent, as patients line hallways waiting for care. Mission Memorial has been forced to reduce its hours and close its doors repeatedly in 2025 and 2026, leaving Mission seniors and families with sick kids driving 15 to 20 minutes to an already overwhelmed hospital. For residents of Harrison, Kent, Harrison Mills, Deroche, Dewdney, Durieu, and Hatzic, the drive to Fraser Canyon in Hope is far longer, and far worse between 6:00 PM and 8:00 AM when Mission Memorial has been closed. This isn't just a Valley problem. Average ER wait times across BC exceeded four hours in 2025. In Abbotsford, they exceeded six and a half. The federal government has been withdrawing from healthcare funding for decades while telling Canadians it's a provincial responsibility, but when the crisis is this widespread, this consistent, and this severe across every province, the cause is clear. New Democrats are demanding the federal government restore the funding it once promised to the provinces and to Canadians, enforce the Canada Health Act against provinces that allow privatization to creep in, and ensure our communities get the healthcare funding they're owed. For residents of Mission—Matsqui that means a fully funded and fully staffed Abbotsford Regional, an end to unplanned closures at Mission Memorial, and real investment in rural and remote healthcare access for every community in our riding.
Double Medical and Nursing School Seats
Our healthcare system is understaffed because we haven't trained enough doctors and nurses to meet our growing population's needs. New Democrats are fighting to double the number of medical school and nursing school seats across the country, streamline recognition of foreign credentials so internationally trained doctors and nurses can practice here without years of unnecessary delay, and implement pan-Canadian licensure so healthcare workers can practice in any province without requalifying. We’re also pushing to mandate safe nurse-to-patient ratios, phase out private nursing agencies that drain billions from the public system, and offer paid preceptorships so nursing students aren't working unpaid in hospitals and long-term care homes.
Expand Team-Based Primary Care
Roughly a quarter of Canadians, including 23 per cent of British Columbians do not have access to a family doctor. That’s why New Democrats are demanding every family has access to primary care by calling for the implementation of team-based care across the country, where family doctors and nurse practitioners work alongside other health professionals to deliver comprehensive care in communities like ours. These care teams will develop strong links with social service providers, focusing on prevention and building healthier communities rather than just treating illness after the fact. Nobody in Mission—Matsqui should be relying on an already-overwhelmed emergency room for primary care.
Universal Coverage from Head to Toe
We’re fighting for a healthcare system that covers you completely, that means universal dental care, prescription drugs, vision, hearing, and mental health care all brought under the public system. Right now, Canadians are skipping dentist appointments, rationing medication, and avoiding counselling because they can't afford it. That doesn’t just deny working Canadians of the healthcare they deserve, because untreated conditions become emergencies. Full universal coverage will reduce costs for everyone, eliminate profits for private insurance companies, and ensure that cost is never a barrier to seeing a doctor, a dentist, a counsellor, or filling a prescription.
Take the Profit Motive Out of Long-Term Care
During the first wave of COVID-19 in Ontario, four out of five deaths occurred in long-term care facilities, and for-profit nursing homes had four times as many deaths as city-run homes. That is what happens when elder care is treated as a revenue stream. We’re demanding long-term care be brought into the public and non-profit system, and demanding the removal of private for-profit businesses from the sector. We’re also calling for proper staffing ratios and health and safety protections for workers, and permanent wage increases and benefits for long-term care workers. Caring for our seniors is among the most essential work in our society. It should not be a place for profit.
Address the Toxic Drug Crisis
The toxic drug crisis has killed over 50,000 Canadians since 2016. These are preventable deaths, and it's time to respond with a healthcare approach grounded in evidence, compassion, and human rights rather than punishment and stigma. We’re calling for the expansion of life-saving harm reduction services including drug checking, supervised consumption, safer supply programs, and widely available naloxone. We’re also calling for the creation of a nationwide network of Crisis Response Community-Led services, mental health crisis teams that keep people safe and free up law enforcement to focus on violent crime.