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Opinion: BC Liberal MLA wisely walks back hospice comments

A BC Liberal MLA learned first-hand about the dangers of letting a social conservative philosophy get too close to public policy.
ian paton
Delta South MLA Ian Paton.

A BC Liberal MLA learned first-hand about the dangers of letting a social conservative philosophy get too close to public policy.

Ian Paton, who represents Delta South, was quick to criticize Health Minister Adrian Dix cutting public funding for a hospice in Paton’s riding. He quickly had to retreat when he realized the implications of his attack.

Dix put the Delta Hospice Society on notice that it was going to lose $1.5 million, effective one year from now.

The reason is the hospice society refuses to allow medical assistance in dying (or, MAID) to take place within the hospice itself.

MAID is a legal service provided within our health system, and hospices that receive public funding are required to perform that service if one of their patients so desires (hospices that clearly faith-based are exempt from this requirement, but they are also obligated to refer a patient to another hospice that does offer the service).

The reason the Delta Hospice stopped providing MAID is clear. The society’s board of directors was literally taken over by pro-life activists last fall, through a mass sign-up campaign of new members.

Two pro-MAID directors quit in protest, while the new board ousted a third. This was all seen in a positive light by part of some religious communities.

“Pro-lifers win a victory for freedom at Delta Hospice” crowed a headline in the Jan. 2 edition of the B.C. Catholic.

Dix gave the board more than two months to comply with the law.

While we have not seen something like this more than 30 years, it used to happen all the time involving another issue that social conservatives went to extraordinary lengths to control.

That would be abortion and, decades ago, similar “societies” controlled what medical services could be offered in public hospitals. Religious organizations conducted vast membership sign-up in churches and stack annual general meetings of these societies and vote in board directors based strictly on their views on abortion.

Paton, who accused Dix of “swooping in to take over” the hospice and of “stealing assets from the people of Delta,” was seen as backing the pro-lifers on the board and he wisely walked back his comments the next day on social media.

In a series of tweets, Paton made it clear he supports that MAID should be offered in publicly funded facilities (as well he should, as the policy dates back to when his party was in government in B.C.).

His BC Liberal political genealogy can be traced back to the old Social Credit party, which was a political dynasty before social conservative issues like abortion and gay rights tore it apart.

The current version of the free enterprise coalition, as it rebuilds and renews itself, would be wise to stay well away from this kind of stuff.

Keith Baldrey is chief political reporter for Global BC.