The latest provincial budget includes delays to seven long-term care projects throughout B.C.
B.C.’s seniors advocate Dan Levitt says that’s just going to put the pressure elsewhere in a province that is already behind on seniors care.
Budget 2026 says the government is “adjusting the timing of delivery” of several long-term care projects “to incorporate the lessons learned from projects already underway and from it’s ongoing review of the long-term care infrastructure program.” The budget allocates $2.8 billion over three years for B.C.’s health-care system, which includes long-term care.
Finance Minister Brenda Bailey presented the budget in Victoria Tuesday (Feb. 17).
The communities affected include Abbotsford, Campbell River, Chilliwack, Cottonwood replacement in Kelowna, Delta, Fort St. John and Squamish. The budget now doesn’t list a completion year for any of the seven projects.
The Office of the Senior’s Advocate has released several reports in recent years on the state of long-term care in the province, criticizing the lack of needed beds with an aging population.
“It’s putting it behind immediately,” Levitt said. “(If) it takes five years to build a long-term care bed from announcement to when a first senior moves in, it’s going to push it back several years.”
B.C. Finance Minister Brenda Bailey herself acknowledged that British Columbia has one of the most rapidly aging populations in Canada.
Levitt said there’s no seniors’ plan in B.C. and as a result “we’re seeing the budget isn’t really taking into consideration seniors.”
He said B.C. is at a time where there should be at least 2,000 new long-term care beds a year to hit the target the Health Ministry has of 16,000 beds in a decade. Currently, Levitt said, one-in-five British Columbians are senior, but in a decade it will be one-in-four.
Levitt said he appreciates the need to “recalibrate” how long-term care facilities are being built, such as having provincial design guidelines, and how much is being spent.
But delaying puts pressure elsewhere.
“It’s going to put pressure on the hospitals, going to put pressure on emergency rooms and on people spending too much time in acute care when they don’t need that acute care bed,” Levitt said. “It’s going to put pressure on doctors’ offices because that’s where seniors are going to go to get medical care.”
He added it will also put pressure on family members acting as caregivers who should be in the workforce, but are now caring for that senior.
“It’s also going to create a situation where the senior’s not getting the kind of care they should.”