By Murray Rankin
MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head
This spring, we have continued to take action to address the issues important to the people of B.C., including the issues I hear about most frequently from the Oak Bay-Gordon Head community. There have been many important and exciting investments, locally and provincially, that will benefit people in our community.
Oak Bay-Gordon Head is a beautiful and welcoming community, where many people want to start their careers, raise their families, and retire. Recently, Oak Bay, Victoria, Saanich, and the Capital Regional District received over $1.7 million in funding to help support and implement our shared goal of building affordable, sustainable housing. This will help respond to the needs of our community, now and in the future, while maintaining the nature, charm, and heritage that our community is known for.
As Oak Bay and Saanich continue to develop active transportation infrastructure plans to help people get around easier and more safely by foot, bike, scooter, and transit, we’re helping support this ongoing work with grants for active transportation projects. For example, we just announced funding for Oak Bay to support their active transportation and traffic calming priorities on McNeill Avenue, and in Saanich to support their upgrades to Sinclair Road. These projects will help all people using our roads, sidewalks, and paths to feel safer and have the option to embrace active transportation options when they choose.
I know some people in our community are concerned about having access to the health care they need. After years of under-investment from past governments, our government has been making record investments in health care and taking action to help people now and into the future.
As a result, we are now seeing the province turn a corner on the doctor shortage, helping to attract and retain family doctors and nurses. In 2023, we welcomed 708 new family doctors, with the biggest increase in the province occurring in the Island Health region. We also saw an additional increase of 6,567 nurses. Recently, B.C. became the first province in Canada to mandate nurse-to-patient ratios, which will help ensure quality of care by supporting nurses to spend more time with their patients.
Talking with people in Oak Bay, it’s clear that people believe it is vital to upgrade our sewage infrastructure. Currently, our stormwater and wastewater treatment are prone to overflowing, which causes problems for our local environment, particularly in the Uplands area. The province is investing $2.94 million locally to modernize and improve stormwater and wastewater management by separating the combined sewer systems. This is part of our work to support infrastructure to accommodate growing communities.
I look forward to seeing the benefits of these programs and investments in our community’s future. Together we are building a community where everyone can grow and thrive, now and for years to come.
Murray Rankin is the MLA for Oak Bay-Gordon Head.
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