THE BC United said on Thursday that following the shocking announcement that B.C. will begin sending cancer patients to private American clinics for treatment, a recently leaked document from BC Cancer shows the state of cancer care in British Columbia is even worse than what has been reported by Premier David Eby’s NDP government.

“Once again, this NDP government is not being transparent with British Columbians about the state of health care in our province,” said Shirley Bond, BC United Critic for Health. “People are hearing one set of figures from Health Minister Dix, only for whistleblowers to come forward with data showing wait times for cancer care in B.C. are actually much worse than we’ve been told. If the NDP are going to send people across international borders because of a lack of capacity, the least they can do is be honest about exactly why this extreme measure is necessary.”

The BC United said that a leaked screenshot of the BC Cancer Data and Analytics dashboard shows a considerable increase in wait times for treatment over recent months, with figures notably worse than those provided by the Health Minister earlier this week. This is not the first time the NDP government has been accused of withholding valuable health data — the NDP was repeatedly criticized for its lack of transparency around COVID-19 data during the pandemic.

Bond said: “People deserve full transparency from government about the extent of the health care crisis. It’s time for this NDP government to be accountable for their record on health and release all cancer wait time data and analytics to the public. Patients and their loved ones want to know the reality of what is in front of them, and government cannot continue to withhold vital information. When it comes to cancer treatment, wait times are a matter of life and death, and this NDP government has a duty to be honest with people.”