NDP leadership hopeful Anjali Appadurai promises raise for nurses, free mental health counselling

Anjali Appadurai, the only B.C. NDP leadership candidate challenging former attorney general and housing minister David Eby, made some big promises on Thursday, including a raise for nurses and free counselling for everyone in the province.

Speaking on Vancouver's Commercial Drive, the one-time federal NDP candidate and climate activist presented a health-care plan she says will put people first and push back against privatization.

Appadurai cited the stories of family members, friends and other British Columbians who have faced years-long wait lists for family doctors, turned to private clinics for cancer treatment or been frustrated by the limitations of telehealth services.

"And that's just the tip of the iceberg," she said.

"Our hospitals are beyond capacity and there's an epidemic of burnout sweeping the system. For-profit companies are capitalizing on these challenges."

Some of Appadurai's biggest promises include:

• raising the pay for registered nurses by 25 per cent.
• providing free and accessible mental health counselling to all British Columbians.
• scaling up community health centres in every health authority to bring family physicians, social workers, nurse practitioners and mental health professionals under the same roof.
• creating more attractive alternatives to the fee-for-service model for family doctors.
• increasing salaries for home care and long-term care workers and implementing cost of living increases.
• immediately implementing a provincial safe supply program.
• removing the three month wait period for new immigrants or people returning from abroad to access health care.

 Appadurai said British Columbia needs to rebuild both from the effects of COVID-19 and "decades of under-investing" in health care. She says the province needs an intersectional approach to what she called overlapping crises.

"To achieve our health goals, we must address poverty, the housing crisis, the climate emergency and systemic racism," she said.

Jeff Ferrier, a public affairs specialist and senior vice president of western Canada for Hill + Knowlton Strategies, said Appadurai's health platform is "solid" but similar to what the B.C. government is already doing. 

"She says she'll make progress faster," said Ferrier. "Many politicians have made that pledge with respect to health care over the years — few deliver."

Ferrier says he supports the idea of raising salaries to keep workers in the health system and attract new ones, but wonders why Appadurai said not everyone will get the same pay bump.

"I was surprised that her proposal was a two-tier lift," he said. "Twenty-five per cent for registered nurses, but much less for other nurses, other workers in the health system."

Membership investigation

At Thursday's event, Appadurai was asked about a recent spike in B.C. NDP memberships and a party audit that found "a significant number of current and former B.C. Greens" were applying to join the New Democrats.

In September, Elections B.C. and the NDP also launched investigations into the actions of an environmental group supporting Appadurai's campaign.

Appadurai said she's "fully in support" of efforts to ensure the legitimacy of all party members but insists her leadership has brought in "thousands" of new people.

"I don't support the assumption of fraud," she said. "I want a fair race, just like everyone else."

From Ferrier's perspective, Appadurai needs to show accountability and leadership to be able to move forward from both the investigations into her campaign and her reputation as a one-issue candidate.

"She needs to talk about more than just climate," he said. 

"She needs to talk about health care ... affordability and cost of living, she needs to have a plan on public safety."

Appadurai said she and her team will unveil the rest of their policies on climate, economy and democracy in the coming weeks as they roll out their full platform.

The B.C. NDP is expected to start its leadership vote in November with a new premier and party leader decided by Dec. 3.