Dual health ministers named as NDP fulfils election pledge
As former opposition health critics, they’ve been thorns in the side of numerous Liberal health ministers for years but now Health Minister Adrian Dix and Mental Health Minister Judy Darcy get their turn to reshape B.C.’s healthcare system.
As the NDP pledged during the election campaign, Premier John Horgan appointed two ministers of health. Dix will head a ministry that spent about $18 billion last year, while Darcy’s budget is unclear since hers is a new entity.
Former Liberal health minister Terry Lake, who announced his retirement from politics before the election, said in an interview Tuesday that having two ministries is a bad idea.
“A minister of state for mental health and addictions would have been a better approach.
“Having two separate ministries creates turmoil in the civil service and a whole lot more work for health authorities, who will now have to report to two ministers.”
Darcy was health critic from 2013 until the election and Dix preceded her. He was most vocal when issues resonated with him personally. A Type 1 diabetic who injects insulin three times a day, he fought for taxpayer-funded coverage of insulin pumps. Now diabetes advocacy organizations are urging the B.C. government to expand coverage of the pumps to all ages instead of having age cutoffs.
Dix was also a vocal champion for colorectal cancer screening, an issue dear to his heart because his mother survived a bout of such cancer. The Liberal government finally introduced such a screening program five years ago, but waiting times have been an obstacle to prompt diagnosis.
Waiting times for all kinds of treatment and Diagnostic Imaging are a chronic problem in B.C. Darcy said during the election campaign that the NDP would solve the problem by extending operating room hours, since most surgical suites sit idle from about 3 or 4 p.m. every day until 6 or 7 a.m. the next day.
Lake said Dix and Darcy will soon find that isn’t easy. “First, there are only so many nurses to go around, and secondly, unions have their rules around the hours that their members can work.”
Analysts will closely watch how the NDP handles negotiations with health-care unions since contracts expire in 2019.
Darcy, who belonged to the Communist party in her youth, is a former national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and a former business manager of the Hospital Employees Union. There are more than 100,000 unionized health-care workers in B.C.
After the cabinet appointments were announced Tuesday, the Hospital Employees Union (HEU) did nothing to hide its glee, saying on Twitter: “Congrats to @adriandix and @DarcyJudy on your new appointments! B.C.’s health dream team is in the people’s house.”