Opinion: The healthcare crisis has been around for years and is difficult to fix easily.
Victoria — Outgoing Prime Minister John Horgan held a press conference last week. Opened and called for launching a $125 million legacy for the community he has represented in Congress for 17 years.
"Today is a very exciting day for the people of the West Shore," Hogan said, according to details released last Wednesday.
Coastal communities west of the state capital, including Colwood, Mechosin and Sooke, plan to build their own post-secondary campuses in the heart of Langford, Hogan's hometown.
The state government is putting his $98 million into construction and land acquisition in partnership with local Camosun College, Royal Roads University and University of Victoria.
The City of Langford is working to build parking lots, road infrastructure and an innovation studio, all worth $27.5 million.
In addition, over five years, he was offered a $375,000 scholarship, a local high school graduate, a booster mayor of the city, and a college that Stew Young already calls Langford University. are encouraged to enroll in
Campus in two years he plans to accommodate 600 students and is expected to double his number by the end of the decade .
"Everything here is ready, and we can start construction tomorrow," Young boasted. "There is no slowdown here in Langford."
Langford is one of the fastest growing communities in BC and has the youngest age group.
"Here he will fill with 1,200 men, and then a few more," declared Young. "We have enough (space) on the site that we can have up to 4,000 or 5,000 students here."
For Hogan, the announcement came first as an opposition member, then As Prime Minister, it concludes several years of hard work.
"Today he was talking to his eldest son and he asked me what he was doing," the Prime Minister said.
"I said I was going to announce the college to Goldstream (Avenue), but I should have announced it 15 years ago.
"So I'm getting it at home, I'm getting it at my (precinct office) window, I'm getting it from people here.
It was all the more significant that Hogan secured the Langford campus. Given that he was forced to deep 6, which was presumed to be one of the heritage projects he was in the metropolitan area, is the replacement of the Royal BC Campus. Museum.
Hogan resigns as prime minister once the party chooses his successor. It could be as early as October if David Evey is the only candidate, and as late as December if other candidates are running for election.
But last week's press conference also highlighted the darker side of Hogan's legacy, even as he witnesses his exit from the office he held for five years.
Reporters asked many questions about troubled medical departments, where long wait times, understaffing and inability to access family doctors are increasingly common.
The Prime Minister was looking for a family doctor to answer questions about the Victorias, who had placed an ad in the newspaper, and to help renew their prescriptions.
He began by calling on the federal government to increase funding, as he usually does when discussing the health crisis. "We came together, but our number one request to the federal government was that we needed equal partners to secure sustainable funding," Hogan said.
``This is a matter of necessity. It's a pressing issue and we are doing all we can to address it, but it needs to be global.
"I am Prime Minister. I'm sure you understand that, and I hope there will be progress before the end of the summer."
If you don't hear from the Prime Minister.
"Maybe we should put an ad in the newspaper," Hogan replied.
That is, in cooperation with other state premiers, as he soon revealed.
Still, Hogan indulged too often were flirtatious and disparaging comments.
"The dead are part of life," he said, because people were dying inside his dome of Heat.
Tell people to use "our sophisticated public transit system" when gas prices are unaffordable.
Judging by the polls, he is pardoned for these and other gaffes by the admirable public.
But in this case he seemed to downplay an issue that would soon be left behind.
The health care crisis doesn't lend itself to the kind of big-ticket publicity that Hogan staged at his planned Langford post-secondary campus location.
This crisis has been around for years and will not be easily resolved.
Health Minister Adrian Dix discovered a lot when no one accepted the incentives he offered this year's medical college graduates to practice family medicine.
Hogan acknowledged the challenges facing his successor when asked about the shortage of nurses and medical technicians. Never mind all other areas where skilled and qualified workers are in short supply.
"It's not just healthcare," he replied.
"Engineering. It's not just in science, it's in many other fields.
"So there's a lot to do."
They certainly do, and Hogan, who is retiring for health reasons, is not overseeing the resolution.
Instead, it is up to his successor. And in healthcare alone, the challenges are enormous.
vpalmer@postmedia.com
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