Next BC Premier: Christy Clark - BC Care Providers Association

New BC Premier Christy Clark at the 2008 BC Care Providers Association Conference with Vancouver Sun Columnist Vaughn Palmer

BC Liberal Party members elected a new Leader - and Premier - on Saturday. Christy Clark edged out former Health Minister Kevin Falcon on the third ballot. Clark released a comprehensive Families First policy platform during the leadership race. Protecting health care is one of three principles identified in association with plans to balance BC budget. Hold the line on taxes and controlling non-health spending to rate of growth are others. With regard to the seniors care sector and BCCPA's 2009 Action Plan priorities, there are a number of significant passages in the platform, including:

"Providing high quality health care is the single most important job of any Canadian provincial government."
"Putting families first means addressing the pressures on families to secure quality caregivers for sick or aging relatives, or giving them the freedom to do it themselves. As our population ages, and pressure on our hospitals increases, home care-giving is becoming more important than ever."
"Elder abuse is a growing problem in society and our government will move aggressively to fight it by making more information available to seniors and by lobbying the federal government to amend the Criminal Code to make it and aggravating factor in any offence if a victim is particularly vulnerable due to age"
"Government data is the people's data and making it available using open standards unlocks enormous potential for private sector innovation."

Other significant elements of the platform that may be particularly relevant to seniors care and the 2009 BCCPA Action Plan are:

consider establishing a Treasury Board sub-committee on health spending to strengthen cabinet's focus on health care capital and overall spending plans
increase the use of sunset clauses for government regulation/legislation and mandate Standing Committee on Finance to review regulations on consistent basis
strengthen role of non-profit organizations in delivering community seniors care and mental health services
boost the BC Caregiver Tax Credit once budget is balanced to ease burden on family members caring for loved ones at home
focus on growing challenges of dementia and other similar illnesses that attack the brain
separate health spending from other spending in provincial budget and bring it down toward the rate of economic growth - as is planned now
ensure access health care services is looked at through a rural lens
protect and create rural jobs and support additional training opportunities in the North for health disciplines

There are many elements the platform focused on how the government makes decisions and consults that could be applicable to our efforts to improve collaboration and get care providers to the decision-making table. These include:

Cabinet accountability sessions in rural areas
12 town hall meetings a year as Premier across province
involve Cabinet in sharing greater part of load in communicating government's agenda
work with MLAs to develop best-practices for staying in touch with constituents
launch Open Government initiative to enhance productivity and identify ways ministries can improve front line service
create Citizens Engagement Challenge on a dedicated website to provide a forum for citizens to work collaboratively with ministries
hold a special summit with non-profits, charities and government to construct a new made-in-BC model for non-profit and public partnerships
strengthen role of non-profit organizations using principle of "transparent selection" so organizations will clearly know how funding will be allocated and the criteria for selection
reward excellence and identify weaknesses in public and non-profit delivery of services

Other elements of platform that may have an indirect impact on seniors care employers include:

create office of the Municipal Auditor General and review municipal taxation formula
eliminate the training wage and consult with business about increasing minimum wage
set targets and measures based on factors such as families' income and health and incorporate these targets and measures into each Ministry's annual service plan
begin discussion with business community about establishing Family Day holiday on third Monday in February

The platform includes a commitment to move HST referendum up to June 24, 2011 and provide public funding for both sides. Since her election as Leader. Clark has promised to move the date of the next BC election up - in advance of the current fixed election date which is set for the spring of 2013.