MLA takes seat on health team

Backrooms column by Dan Hilborn
Published July 12, 2006


Expect to hear more news from Burnaby-Edmonds NDP MLA Raj Chouhan in the coming months, as the B.C. NDP prepares to escalate its fight against the provincial government's health-care policies.

Chouhan was named the NDP critic for mental health just prior to the Canada Day holiday, joining a new three-person team on the overall health care file.

Leading the team will be rising star Vancouver-Kingsway MLA Adrian Dix, with assistance from West Kootenay MLA Katrine Conroy, who takes on the critic role for seniors' health.

The formation of the new NDP health care team is part of a strategy to reverse the NDP's dismal showing in recent public opinion polls, and the three critics all have powerhouse resumes.

Dix has already won accolades for his earlier work on the ministry of children and families file, while Conroy is former hospital board member. Chouhan is no slouch himself.

"I have 18 years experience working on health care," said the former organizer for the Hospital Employees' Union.

And he wasted no time criticizing the Liberals for failing to help people suffering from mental health problems and addictions.

"The Liberals have looked at mental health as something secondary," Chouhan said. "The number of people on the street who are grappling with mental health and addiction has grown significantly."

At the top of Chouhan's list are calls to provide a greater investment in crisis management and detox beds.

"In Burnaby, the Liberals closed Maple Cottage detox centre," he said. "Those kinds of community-based programs are not only a necessary feature of a compassionate society, they make common sense."

Chouhan noted that the mental health file has some "crossover issues" with his other great interest - human rights.

"People who have suffered from mental disorders are many times not looked at as equals.

"They are treated as second class citizens who don't belong in mainstream society," he said. "That's a human rights issue. We want these people to have the same respect as anyone else."

While Chouhan gives up his former critic role on human rights, he will continue to work on the marriage fraud file.

CHANGE AT CENTRE

A little housekeeping is in order after I mistakenly referred to city councillor Gary Begin as the chair of St. Michael's Centre in a recent story.

Begin was the chair until last month when he moved over to become chair of the Fairhaven United Church Home. His Team Burnaby colleague Barbara Spitz is the new chair at St. Michael's.

THE RETURN OF PATTY SAHOTA

It appears the former Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Patty Sahota is back in the game, and expanding her boundaries.

Sahota, a former minister of state for resort development, is a B.C. regional organizer for one of the contenders in the federal Liberal leadership contest, according to a report on the Public Eye website.

Sahota is apparently working with Ujjal Dosanjh and former Vancouver city organizer Mae Brown on the campaign of former Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae, said a June 8 posting.

The moves comes as a bit of a surprise to those pundits who thought Sahota was more closely aligned with the Conservative Party than the New Democrats. Attempts to contact Sahota through both the federal and provincial Liberal headquarters were unsuccessful.