B.C. MLAs work across party lines to expand defibrillator access

Just as British Columbia is heading into a potentially polarizing election, two MLAs from opposing parties held a joint press conference Friday focused on the need to work across party lines.

Health Minister Adrian Dix of the B.C. NDP and MLA Shirley Bond of B.C. United (formerly the B.C. Liberals) came together in Prince George to announce expanded access to  automated external defibrillators (AEDs) across the province.

The program, launching as a pilot in Prince George before expanding to other communities, will place automated AEDs at key outdoor locations to be used during cardiac emergencies.

The combination of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), as well as the use of an AED before first responders arrive, can double the chance of survival for someone experiencing cardiac arrest, the province says.

Dix said he wanted to announce the program in Prince George because Bond, who has represented the region for more than 20 years, has been a tireless champion for the expansion of AED availability.

"In politics today, there [are] lots of reason for disagreement," Dix said.

While he and Bond had often fiercely debated health-care issues in B.C., he said, they have also worked together on many programs focused on improving health care for individuals.

"The hardest thing, I think, in the current age of politics is for people who disagree to find things to say 'yes' about — and to do them," he said.

Pair caution against divisive politics

Bond, who served as health minister in 2004 and 2005, acknowledged she had often been hard on Dix, to the point that she'd been told his staff have a chart counting every time she called on him to resign.

But, she said, those differences were put aside when they would meet to talk about pressing issues in the health-care system.

"Often I would go to him with devastatingly difficult stories and say, 'Would you help me?' and the answer was always, 'yes,'" she said. "I am deeply grateful for that."

The remarks on cross-party cooperation come shortly after the province's political landscape was upended by a surprise decision by B.C. United Leader Kevin Falcon to suspend the party's election campaign and throw his support behind the B.C. Conservative Party.

The decision prompted some B.C. United MLAs to announce their intentions to run as Independents while others, including Bond, have opted to retire from provincial politics — a decision, she said, she did not expect to be forced to make.

Bond has known B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad for many years. She was elected as a B.C. Liberal in 2001 and Rustad was elected in the same party in 2005 to represent a riding west of Prince George.

But, she said, she had not spoken with him since making her decision to retire.

Nor, she said, had she discussed his party's call to fire Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"John has clear views about how he would behave as premier of British Columbia and that's going to be up to voters," she said.

Bond did not say who she is endorsing in the upcoming election but encouraged voters to think carefully about who they choose to represent them.

"It is a very, very polarized political environment that we're living in," she said, while ultimately applauding everyone willing to run. "Putting your name on a ballot ... it takes courage."