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A government sign outside the Cottonwoods Extended Care home in Kelowna, B.C., promises a bigger and better facility is on the way.
However, plans to replace the 50-year-old care centre are no longer moving forward, at least not for now.
“We were absolutely shocked when we turned to the capital project section of the budget,” said Gavin Dew, Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission. “I’m very concerned about the impact for seniors on access to long-term care. We badly need more capacity.”
Tuesday’s provincial budget revealed the indefinite pause on construction.
The news comes a year and half after former health minister Adrian Dix announced the much-needed replacement, saying then it was long overdue.
“Something we’ve needed to do, let’s face it, for a very long time,” Dix said in Kelowna on June 28, 2024. “Cottonwoods has always been a high priority. I wish, we would have been happy to do it sooner but we’re where we are at now.”
Dew questioned the province’s reversal on a project it deemed to be ‘high priority’.
“Adrian Dix came to Kelowna in an election year and promised to get Cottonwoods done and now that the election is over, they’ve abandoned seniors in Kelowna, just as they’ve abandoned seniors all across British Columbia,” Dew said.
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The construction on a new four-storey care home at the existing Cottonwoods site was to begin this year.
It would have also added nearly 100 new beds, bringing the total to 314.
But the Cottonwoods replacement project wasn’t the only one shelved in the budget. Six others in B.C. were also shelved due to what the government calls significant and unsustainable costs.
In an email to Global News, the finance ministry stated, “In some cases, the costs have increased to as high as $1.8 million per bed. We are exploring approaches like standard design guidelines, modular construction options, and other ways to deliver high quality facilities in a faster and more cost-effective way.”
“We have a desperate shortage of long term care beds in this province,” Dew said. “We have seniors who are going to emergency rooms because they’re not able to get care in an appropriate residential environment.”
B.C.’s seniors advocate also expressed concerns over the projects being paused at a time when the senior population is only growing.
“We need to urgently build long term care. We’re currently short 2,000 beds, while 7,000 people are waiting,” Dan Levitt said.
“Fast forward a decade from now, when one in four British Columbians will be over the age of 65 and by then, the ministry of health predicts we’re going to need 16,000 beds. So now is not a time to be slowing down investments in long term care.”
The province did not provide any timeline as to when those long-promised projects may be revived.
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