Revolving door health care facilities

Fraser Valley residents must be shaking their heads. Not even a year after the new adolescent psychiatric facility opened its doors to new patients, the BC government was closing its doors, citing a lack of qualified staff and faulty equipment as the reason for the closure. This is disappointing, since it was only months ago before the provincial election that this same government was touting the facility as a means of reducing the demand for the Surrey location that provides similar care functions. The government spent a long time explaining how this facility was absolutely necessary to ensure timely treatment of adolescents and children who require psychiatric care. I would love for this government to tell me that in the intervening half year, children and teenagers with debilitating mental diseases had miraculously been remedied of things that have no cure, but that is not a feasible conclusion. What is a feasible conclusion is that this was more showboating and out of touch legislating from the BC Liberals, who clearly don’t understand the issues.
The Honourable Kevin Falcon, our Minister of Health, claims that there simply wasn’t enough money or staff to fund the building, even though the Ministry itself obtained a twenty percent increase in funding since the last budget year. Perhaps the Minister can explain to the public why a specialized care unit in such high demand did not get the funding and personnel required to fulfill its mandate; it seems only logical to me, a simple voter, that if the Abbotsford location meant so much to the health of the people there and it meant so much to the BC Liberals, that they would do what it took to keep the location open. Obviously, they have not, and they will not, because for the BC Liberals, this isn’t about who’s going to go without needed care, its about saving money without regards to the consequences of their actions.
When the health of our fellow citizens, especially youths, is in danger, I would expect that our government would do its job and make sure that things are done to provide the absolute best care possible. Minister Falcon and the rest of the BC Liberal caucus, stop playing politics with the health of Fraser Valley youths and reopen this facility.