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Hundreds gathered in Delta on Sunday to call on the province to restart long-term care housing that has stalled.
The delay, community members and local representatives say, will increase pressure on the health care system.
The protest moved past the planned 200-bed facility on the campus of Delta Hospital across from Bedi Long-Term Care Center, where the province had begun construction last month before suspending the project.
The care center was originally slated to open in 2027, but the completion date is now listed as “to be confirmed” in BC’s 2026-27 budget.
It is one of seven long-term care facilities across B.C. that have been delayed or, as the province describes it, “re-accelerated,” to control rising costs and review health care infrastructure projects.
“We need this project to move forward,” Delta South attorney Ian Patton said at the rally.
“The long-term care facility currently has 92 beds and is very tired, outdated and in dire need of infrastructure upgrades,” he added.
Langley-Walnut Grove attorney Misty Van Popta said the Fraser Health Authority, which serves more than two million people, is already under significant pressure.
“Fraser Health is at the breaking point right now,” she said, citing emergency room closures, maternity ward diversions and service disruptions across the region.
Three of the seven delayed long-term care projects are in the Fraser Health Region.
“These are your tax dollars waiting in the dirt. Where should the leaders go?” Van Popeta said.
He says Fraser Health is underfunded and calls for provincial support to better match population growth.
“We deserve the same funding as the other five health authorities in the province.”
The province says Fraser Health receives the largest share of health care infrastructure funding in BC and continues to invest despite the review.
Frustration about health care for seniors in the Delta is growing. On Sunday, dozens of people protested the delay in building a long-term care facility. As CBC’s Bennett Breach reports, the group is calling for more funding to fund health care in the Fraser Health Region.
In a statement to CBC News, BC’s Ministry of Infrastructure said the latest estimates for the Delta Care Center increase costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars per bed, which the ministry says is “unsustainable” and that it is working to provide long-term care beds that cost more.
Infrastructure Minister Bowen Ma said in a statement that the projects would still go ahead.
But community members say delaying long-term care projects doesn’t eliminate costs, but rather shifts them elsewhere in the system.
“Seniors are staying in our hospital beds longer than they should, emergency rooms are overcrowded and care units are becoming more difficult to manage,” said Lisa Hoglund, CEO at Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation.
“Home care services are also being stretched beyond capacity and carers are being pushed to absolute exhaustion.”
Delta Mayor George Harvey also criticized the delay, noting that the community has already raised millions of dollars to support the construction.
“The need has never been greater. Beating is not only disappointing, it is completely unacceptable,” he said.
In a statement, Fraser Health said it is focused on delivering safe, quality care while working to strengthen staff and services across the region.
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