THE NDP on Tuesday slammed B.C. Conservative Leader John Rustad for ‘falsely claiming’ about the new Surrey hospital on a Surrey radio station: “We can’t even start the construction yet because all the permitting and background stuff has not been completed yet.”

The NDP said: “In fact, permits are in place and work on the second Surrey hospital started a year ago. A simple look at the hospital site shows it’s full of construction equipment including diggers, trucks and several cranes.”

“It’s shocking that John Rustad doesn’t even know that hospital construction is well underway,” said Mike Starchuk, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale. “If he paid any attention to Surrey’s healthcare needs, he would know the hospital has been under construction for a year. And this is coming from someone who wants to cut $4.1 billion from healthcare, and cancel projects. That’s a risk to Surrey’s healthcare that we can’t afford.”

The NDP pointed out that Rustad was a cabinet minister in a BC Liberal government that refused to build the hospital and instead sold off the land designated for it.