THE BC Liberals on Thursday called on Premier John Horgan and the NDP to do the right thing and launch an independent and comprehensive review of all aspects of the province’s COVID-19 response.

“The NDP’s default position is secrecy and avoiding honest conversations with British Columbians,” said BC Liberal Health Critic Shirley Bond. “British Columbians deserve the opportunity to provide specific feedback and ask tough questions about what went right and what went wrong over the last two years during the pandemic. We’re not going to learn anything by avoiding the truth and preventing a thorough review of the critical decisions made throughout the pandemic. It’s essential that we learn lessons in order to respond more effectively in the future. British Columbians deserve nothing less.”

Yesterday, the NDP announced a review of their pandemic response, with the fine print indicating that it would exclude any examination of public health decisions and economic recovery actions. The BC Liberals have repeatedly called for a full review of the provincial government’s pandemic response. But that’s not what the NDP has decided to do, instead they’ve chosen a narrow review that ignores major issues.

The BC Liberals are calling for a review that includes:

* A comprehensive look into public health decisions and the government response to providing support to British Columbians.
* Analysis of the election’s impact on pandemic management during the critical period where government was put into caretaker mode.
* Decisions around Long-Term Care (LTC) facilities where there has been a complete lack of public transparency around the change in policy towards declaring outbreaks. When the B.C. Seniors Advocate tried to review the policy of ‘enhanced monitoring’ in LTC facility outbreaks the government refused to cooperate, saying they were “unable to participate due to urgent, pandemic-related responsibilities.”
* Supports for small businesses, especially after multiple failures and delays in getting resources into the hands of those who needed grants and supports.
The impacts on pandemic management and public trust following a consistent lack of COVID-19 data transparency and poor communication.
“The NDP have announced a review that simply isn’t credible and falls far short of the request and the need for a full and independent review,” added Bond. “The NDP’s decision to severely limit the scope of the review is troubling but consistent with the government’s ongoing lack of transparency. After all, this NDP government has been labelled the most secretive government in Canada by the Canadian Association of Journalists. John Horgan should do the right thing, admit he got it wrong and start over. A review that is limited in scope and provides no recommendations is not a review at all.”