Health care not a Liberal Party priority

A reader writes about the "systemic dismantling' of services at the Ashcroft Hospital.

Dear Editor,

Our right as free citizens to express ourselves politically was destroyed last summer and fall as I protested at MLA Jackie Tegart’s office on the street [Railway Avenue].

I tried to make the destruction of our hospital and health care the priority it deserved, and to make people aware.

Tegart called the police to have me removed. I remained, as I know that we have the right to protest, and so do the police.

The Liberal Party government has failed to maintain health care as a priority, and our hospital is being systematically dismantled. Many of us moved here knowing that a hospital with emergency care existed.

At the all-candidates forum [in Ashcroft on April 24], Harry Lali said he doesn’t believe in promises; he believes in commitments.

He made a personal commitment that the first priority of his, if the NDP forms the government, would be to make the Ashcroft Hospital a pilot project and bring back 24/7 emergency care.

Ken Platz

Ashcroft

Ashcroft Cache Creek Journal