Provincial government silent as Kamloops cancer centre business plan promise deadline looms

KAMLOOPS — Back in May, B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced a cancer care centre is to be built in Kamloops on the Royal Inland Hospital campus. In that announcement, the minister stated that the business plan for the new centre would be completed by the end of the year.

“We started the work on this after 2020, got approval to go forward, prepared the concept plan, we got the funding approved, it’s in the 10-year capital plan, we announced the concept plan today,” stated Dix on May 25, 2023. “Because we were really confident about that, we started the business planning earlier. It usually takes 12-to-18 months. Instead, you will see the business plan approved in the next six months. Certainly before the end of 2023.”

With only days remaining in the year, the Ministry of Health has been unable to confirm to CFJC, through email or an interview, that the promise from Minister Dix has been met. B.C. United MLA Todd Stone wasn’t surprised that the government isn’t meeting its own deadline.

“Let’s be clear — the NDP have misled the people of Kamloops and this entire region for decades when it comes to cancer care,” said the Kamloops-South Thompson MLA. “What we are hearing from and seeing from the NDP government today is no different than what has happened in previous years. Adrian Dix actually promised that there would be business plan on the table for everyone to see by the end of the fall.”

When promising the business case by the end of the year, Dix mentioned that the plan is for the first patients to be treated at the new centre in 2027. It’s not clear if the delay on the business plan will effect the overall timeline for the project in Kamloops.

Stone highlighted that even the most recent promise is not what was said by then-Premier John Horgan in 2020.

“Would be open, staffed and full of patients by the end of this current term. Again, that is next October. That’s one year from now. I invite anybody in Kamloops to go and take a look at the site. It’s a parking lot —not one piece of dirt has been moved,” said Stone. “Business plan this week or next week or the week after, I don’t think anybody in Kamloops actually believes that this government is serious about delivering the cancer care that this community and region deserves because their track record is one of promise and fail to deliver, promise and fail to deliver.”

Late on Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Health was able to provide a statement, stating the delay does not mean the centre is any less of a priority for the government.

“The approved business plan announcement will happen very soon, and we’re essentially down to arranging the scheduling. We are on track and not having the announcement over Christmas does not suggest any diminished priority toward this important cancer centre coming to Kamloops. We continue to be full steam ahead, a new cancer centre is coming to Kamloops, and we will be making the official announcement very soon,” reads the statement from a Ministry of Health Spokesperson.