If Kamloops were to up its lobbying game to the same sort of level it did in 1991-92, it would surely have an impact. All that’s lacking is a sense of urgency on the part of today’s NDP government, which has very little credibility on the subject thanks to its history. The need for a full-service clinic in Kamloops is no longer in question. As Dix himself has pointed out, increases in population will increase the need for cancer treatment, and the only logical way to respond is to decentralize cancer clinics. In the end, of course, Harcourt reneged on his promise to Kamloops and the rest is history.īut there’s no longer a contest between Kamloops and Kelowna. And, Kelowna matched Kamloops’ 30,000 signatures. Supporters of the Kelowna site accused Kamloops of bringing politics into the issue - the Okanagan city was represented in Victoria by Socreds, so it fretted about being at a disadvantage. The Kelowna Daily Courier published its own supplement extolling the virtues of that city as the logical choice. The media there formed a counter-coalition. Kamloops had the advantage of having two NDP MLAs in Art Charbonneau and Fred Jackson, and MP Nelson Riis joined in as well, blasting the consultants’ report as “flawed.” We collected 30,000 signatures and delivered them to the government in Victoria, all within a couple of weeks.īut Kelowna wasn’t letting all this go by without a response. The Daily News even published a special supplement. Weyerhaeuser Canada ran a sign-up campaign, too. Petition coupons were distributed to businesses. NL staff, co-ordinated by Peter Olsen, circulated among the crowds at Blazer games. Staffers at Kedco - that’s the Kamloops Economic Development Commission, the precurser to Venture Kamloops - canvassed the city door-to-door.Ī booth was set up at Aberdeen Mall to gather signatures. The Daily News, Broadcast Centre, NL and K-97 kept in touch with “cancer-clinic campaign bulletins.” Local businesses and industries were brought on board to help with a petition signup. I’ve not seen cooperation among local media, nor within the public, to that degree since. Local media, led by the Kamloops Daily News, began a blitz to mobilize public support. Kamloops weighed in with an energetic campaign to keep the city in the running. After beating Social Credit in that election, it took little time for him to start backing down.Īn independent consultant, hired by the Socred government earlier that year, filed a report after the election favoring Kelowna as the site in the southern Interior. There was much debate about population size and geography, leading up to what we refer to in these parts as Mike Harcourt’s “broken promise.” Approaching election day in 1991, then-NDP leader Harcourt promised that Kelowna, Prince George and Kamloops would all get full-service cancer clinics. The battle between Kamloops and Kelowna over the following years is what most people remember.
#The daily courier full
In 1985, the RIH board of directors, supported by the medical staff’s cancer clinic committee and the medical advisory committee, submitted a proposal for expansion of the clinic to full service. In 1976, the Interior Cancer Clinic was established at RIH. The Kamloops quest for a full-service cancer clinic goes back to 1991-92 and even before that - talk began in the mid-1950s. Radiation usually involves multiple treatments. Patients in need of it currently must board a special shuttle bus to Kelowna. While RIH has a good clinic now, it lacks the ability to provide radiation treatment. Now that the tower is completed and has been officially open since last month, maybe attention can be shifted to getting the new cancer clinic done.
Over the past few years, most of the focus for Royal Inland Hospital has been on the $417- million patient-care tower. “The centre will be built.” Just a couple of weeks ago, he said it again. Earlier this year, Health Minister Adrian Dix said the new clinic is in the “concept planning phase.” He’d said the same thing five months earlier. That was walked back significantly a year later when the now-majority government of the New Democrats said it was instead within a 10-year cancer care plan. Premier John Horgan promised during the election campaign in the fall of 2020 that a full service cancer clinic would be built here within the four-year mandate of a new NDP government A FULL-SERVICE CANCER CLINIC is in the works for Kamloops somewhere within the books of the provincial NDP government but it might be a long way off.