B.C. NDP leader David Eby is on Vancouver Island today talking about health care and comparing his party's platform with that of the B.C. Conservatives.

Eby stopped by Nanaimo's Loudon Park on Wednesday, Oct. 16, and also plans to stop in Ladysmith, Duncan and Victoria later in the day.

In a press release, Eby said the B.C. Conservatives under leader John Rustad would make "deep cuts" to health care and "import the U.S.-style two-tier system." Eby pointed to his party's plan to hire 45,000 new health-care workers and invest in capital projects such as a new patient tower at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.

鈥淛ohn Rustad has made it clear he would make you wait longer and pay more for worse health care 鈥� by draining doctors and nurses from our public hospitals,鈥� said Eby in the release. 鈥淲e are winning the global competition for health workers and building new hospitals across the province. If you don鈥檛 want to wake up on Sunday morning to Premier John Rustad dismantling our healthcare system, I鈥檓 asking you to join us.鈥� 

The NDP has calculated the Conservative health care cuts based on Rustad's past comments about cutting health-care spending as a percentage of GDP; however, the Conservatives' platform promises $1.4 billion in additional health-care spending over the next two years.

Eby's comments about two-tier health care reference Rustad's past remarks about wanting changes to the Canadian Health Act. The Conservatives' health-care platform points to publicly funded partnerships with non-governmental clinics for certain services and procedures.

Election day is Saturday, Oct. 19.

More to come.