Mayor of Merritt says BC NDP needs a ‘concrete plan’ to fix the province’s healthcare crisis

The mayor of Merritt says he’s hopeful the BC NDP have gotten the message from the razor-thin margin in the election and will work with the other parties to solve B.C.’s healthcare crisis.

Merritt has been plagued with repeated ER closures for a couple of years now, and Mayor Mike Goetz says there could be somewhere in the range of 30 more this year.

He has been outspoken about the city’s continued ER closures, and in the past has sent the province bills for services he says Merritt is paying for — but not getting.

The mayor thinks the strong opposition presence will be helpful in holding the government accountable, along with other voices in the legislature.

“We all know the Green Party is going to be very involved…they’re going to be helping make some of these decisions,” he said.

“There’s going to be a lot of new people, a lot of people getting their legs underneath them. So we’re looking foward to seeing how it all works out.”

He adds that he’s confident the elected Conservative MLA for Fraser-Nicola — Tony Luck, who’s a former city councillor — will help advocate for the region in Victoria.

Goetz says what he wants to see from the BC NDP is an “actual plan” that the city can get behind.

“If the plan takes a number of years, we understand that it’s not going to get fixed overnight. But if we can have some sort of a concrete plan that can get us where we need to be with the right amount of doctors and nurses, everything else moving in the right direction,” the mayor said.

“I think you’ll see every mayor in the province behind that new plan, or any plan. But up to this point, we haven’t had one. So hopefully we will see something happen.”