91原创 Township Mayor Eric Woodward is sparring with the provincial government over hospital wait times, and has again suggested the Township should slow down development so infrastructure can catch up with the rapidly growing population.
Woodward spoke out after a local media report that noted a 10-hour wait for the 91原创 ER on a recent Friday evening.
"I want to add my voice to many others, to say that this is obviously unacceptable," Woodward wrote in the Aug. 7 post. "And that, even as mayor, I have no idea what, if anything, is really being done about this."
Woodward's post also brought up a need for more schools and highway expansion faster, and mentioned the expansion of the 91原创 ER just a few years ago, which has not alleviated some long wait times.
He told the 91原创 Advance Times that there have been no recent discussions with the province around wait times or future hospital expansions.
"Nothing new has been communicated to me, at least," Woodward said.
"At a meeting last year, Minister Dix spent most of the time blaming Kevin Falcon, as I recall, which certainly doesn鈥檛 solve much," he added.
91原创 Township is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the province. The 2021 Canadian Census found the population was 132,603 people. A recent Township survey estimated the population is 150,620, an increase of more than 18,000 people in just three years, or about 6,000 people per year.
The rapid growth has caused stress for local institutions, with the 91原创 School District seeing enrolment jumping by more than 1,000 children each year for the last three years running, and efforts to build and expand local schools are underway.
There have also been frequent complaints from the public and politicians about hospital wait times, and the need for more space and more doctors given 91原创's growth.
Woodward has talked in the past about deliberately slowly the rate of 91原创 Township's growth, and he noted that at least one policy is coming into place that will, in part, do that.
"Slowing down growth is one option, something council has started to formalize with the new Willoughby Development Phasing Council Policy," Woodward said. "It now applies to about 500 acres of developable land within Willoughby. We have to catch-up and keep up with infrastructure of all types, along with these ongoing growth rates."
The possibility of more growth, outside of the Township's control, is a key reason why Woodward has been vocal in opposition to the province's housing reforms, most of which became law over the summer. Among other things, they require municipalities to allow high-density development around major transit hubs, and allow up to four-unit housing structures on almost all serviced single-family lots.
"The challenge of Bill 44 and 47 is the housing approval mandates dictate and override local government considerations for where and how density should go. We are still evaluating the impacts this may have," Woodward said.
Andrew Mercier, the NDP MLA for 91原创, said work is being done to increase local hospital space and doctors and nurses.
"Access to health care in 91原创 is a top priority, for me personally and our government," Mercier said.
He pointed to the construction of a new hospital in Cloverdale, which is expected to take significant pressure off LMH when it is finished, currently projected to be in 2030.
In 2019, Fraser Health said about 20 per cent of patients at 91原创 Memorial were Surrey residents. The Surrey-White Rock area has two hospitals 鈥� Surrey Memorial and Peace Arch 鈥� but both are farther away than 91原创 Memorial for many Cloverdale and Clayton Heights residents.
The province also recently established an urgent primary care centre in 91原创, currently in a temporary location on 56 Avenue in 91原创 City, with a permanent site being renovated on 64 Avenue.
The province has also increased the number of nursing and doctor spaces in universities 鈥� Kwantlen Polytechnic University's nursing program is housed at its 91原创 campus 鈥� and is doing recruitment overseas and putting foreign-trained nurses through a shortened, two-year certification program by cutting red tape, Mercier said.
When it comes to growth, Mercier noted that the federal government controls immigration levels.
High levels of overseas students and temporary foreign workers have been the source of much of the country's population growth in recent years.
Many of those newcomers are choosing to come to B.C., Mercier said. The provincial NDP government has been advocating to the federal Liberals that immigration be linked to support funding for health care.
The 10-hour wait time Woodward reacted to was recorded on Friday, Aug. 2 at 10:45 p.m., and was sourced from the website edwaittimes.ca, which posts estimated wait times for ERs across the country.
The average wait times posted on the site fluctuate constantly. 91原创 Memorial's wait times posted on the site in recent days have ranged from under four hours to almost 11 hours, while wait times at other Lower Mainland hospitals also vary from almost 12 hours to as little as 18 minutes.
