Professional groups need to fight back against HPOA
BC United leader, Kevin Falcon said he was impressed with efforts of some local citizens, who took the initiative to try to inform the public about Bill 36, the Health Professions and Occupations Act. The NDP government rammed the Act through the British Columbia Legislature in November 2022, when it cut the debate short, after barely a third of the clauses in the Act had been debated.
Regulations to implement the Act are currently being developed, and this process could take at least a year. Once implemented, the Act will reduce BC’s medical colleges which currently provide oversight for all healthcare professionals in the province, from 15 down to six, and will remove doctor-elected members of these boards.
“It’s essentially the NDP saying we’re going to take over all the independent professional associations that govern doctors, nurses and all the different medical professions out there,” said Falcon.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the changes outlined in the Act. One of the biggest concerns, is that there was almost no consultation with healthcare practitioners in BC, prior to developing and pushing the Bill through the Legislature.
At last Tuesday’s BC United Town Hall meeting hosted by local MLA Dan Davies, residents had the opportunity to ask Davies, Falcon, and Skeena MLA Ellis Ross questions. Fort St. John resident Deborah Johnson made some pointed statements and related her efforts to inform the public about the ramifications of the Act.
Johnson said that in April, a small group of locals gathered as much information as they could about the Act and “went around to all the healthcare practitioners and some businesses here in Fort St. John to educate people. We did contact Dan Davies’ office, we did supply him with all the information that we had, we also contacted the City of Fort St. John with the information, hoping that they would help us educate the people of Fort St. John on the importance of Bill 36.”
Her group’s efforts to the get the word out about the Act have included booths at the Trade Show, Block Party, Fall Fair and even the Rona and Canadian Tire parking lots. She says that now, the government is trying to bury the Act, to hide it so that students wanting to pursue a career in healthcare won’t look into it. Meanwhile, Johnson says, doctors and nurses who understand the implications of the Act, how it’s going to regulate their professions are leaving the province.
“The ones that are hanging on here have their own personal private practice, but the government is coming after them as well,” Johnson said.
“We would’ve liked to have had help from you, Dan Davies, but we didn’t get it. We would’ve liked to have gotten help from the City of Fort St. John, but we didn’t get it from them either,” she said. “These two entities have failed, failed the people of Fort St. John.”
Falcon said that it was remarkable that Johnson spent her own time trying to get the message out.
“I can’t believe we have citizens that took their time to try to talk to city hall or strangers in a parking lot about something like that, that’s extraordinary,” he said.
The Act, Falcon said, is a massive overreach into the independence of professions to decide what’s in the best interests of their members. Now the healthcare professional – the doctors, dentists, chiropractors, the nurses – need to stand up to the government and this undemocratic overreach.
Davies agreed. “Now what we need to do is, a lot of pieces still haven’t been brought in, we need to still work with and get the healthcare professionals to come out. They’re the ones that are going to have that voice,” he said. “That’s where the movement’s going to happen.”
However, Johnson and others present at the meeting felt that Davies and BC United didn’t fight hard enough to get the legislation stopped.
“We voted against Bill 36. We were totally against Bill 36 – anyone that tells you different is lying to you. I think that’s important that you know that,” said Falcon.
“The entire caucus took the stance that we will not support this. Regardless of when the 27 of us stand up and say no, there’s 52 of them, and it passes,” Davies said.
Ross also praised the residents’ efforts. “What you did was really impressive, you took an interest in democracy,” he said.
However, he explained that there wasn’t anything the other parties could do when the NDP chooses to shut down debate. Part of the process of developing legislation is the opposition gets to offer amendments when they see things that aren’t quite right in a Bill.
“They did not give us that opportunity. We saw the deficiencies in that Bill, and they didn’t give it to us.”
“It’s a bad, bad piece of legislation,” Falcon said.
The impact on unvaccinated workers is also a problem, Falcon said. Mandatory vaccination for healthcare workers is also included in the Act, as well as being current policy.
“Can you imagine in the midst of a healthcare crisis, to have thousands of highly skilled doctors, nurses, care aides can’t go to work in their own province. The only jurisdiction in North America. I call it ideological fanaticism because there’s no science. There’s no other place in North America that says hey that’s a really good idea, let’s do that. Just BC. And Dix. The worst healthcare minister we’ve ever had. That’s why we called for him to get his ass fired.”
The entire 278-page Health Professions and Occupations Act can be found on the BC Government website https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/bills/billsprevious/3rd42nd:gov36-3