THE BC United Party on Tuesday said that after the B.C. Coroner found that the delayed response from the NDP government contributed to the number of fatalities during 2021’s deadly heat dome, Premier David Eby has still failed to take urgent action to tackle the failures that led to the heat-related deaths of more than 600 British Columbians.

“It has been two years since 619, mostly frail and elderly, people died in a fatal heat dome, and more than a year since the B.C. Coroner’s damning report highlighted the NDP government’s failures during that crisis, and very little has actually been done to safeguard many of our province’s most vulnerable for the next extreme heat event,” said MLA Shirley Bond, BC United Critic for Health.

“It took two years for [Health] Minister [Adrian] Dix to finally announce a three-year plan to provide vital air conditioning units to vulnerable British Columbians. With such a long timeline, after an unacceptably long delay, people have no confidence the NDP will actually deliver on this promise or ever address the additional steps necessary to prevent this level of tragedy from happening again. Once again, it is too little, too late.”

The BC United Party said that last year’s Coroner’s report demonstrated how government did not adequately notify British Columbians of the risks of the extreme heat, failing to take swift action to inform the public about the risks of record-breaking temperatures or ensuring emergency services were appropriately staffed. The report clearly identified the lag time between Environment Canada’s heat warnings and the NDP government’s response as a major problem that likely contributed to B.C.’s death rate being significantly higher than neighbouring jurisdictions under the same heat dome.

“While Washington and Oregon experienced one and two deaths per 100,000 people, respectively, B.C. had a death rate of 12 people per 100,000. That wasn’t just due to a lack of air conditioning units. It’s long overdue for this NDP government to show some responsibility and make all the important changes necessary to avoid future tragedies,” said MLA Bruce Banman, BC United Critic for Emergency Management and Climate Readiness.

“The Coroner laid out vital recommendations necessary to make changes in this province and the NDP have largely ignored them. Extreme weather events are only going to get more common, and it is government’s responsibility to learn from their failures and take real, effective action to keep people safe.”

Of the 619 people who died due to the heat dome, nearly 450 of them had called for an ambulance, but only 55 ever made it to the hospital, said the BC United Party.