Emergency department closures, education, and relations with local First Nations were among the topics discussed in the final debate for the Abbotsford-Mission byelection.
Conservative Party of B.C. leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay, NDP candidate Pam Alexis, CentreBC candidate Lakhwinder Jhaj, and BC Greens candidate Stephen Fowler took to the stage at Clarke Theatre in Mission on Monday (Sept. 14) to answer questions.
The Abbotsford-Mission seat opened up in late August after Conservative MLA Reann Gasper resigned to make way for Findlay. Premier David Eby set Sept. 26 as the byelection date a week later.
The all candidates meeting was organized by the Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce and featured questions from both the chamber and the public.
The first topic discussed was emergency department closures at Mission Memorial Hospital and the $18 million expansion of the department.
Fowler said the ER has become the first line of medicine for many without a doctor, and pointed out the BC Greens’ strategy of introducing community health centres.
“There would be one per community … that’s where people would go to to visit their doctors, and in the same building would be the specialists. So it would speed the whole process up, take pressure off of the hospitals from the ER room, and saving money,” he said.
More than 70 emergency department closures in 2026 is not acceptable, Findlay said.
“Our healthcare system generally needs a lot of revision. It is too top-heavy. We need more doctors. We need more frontline people. We need the staffing, and you can’t just expand without giving care that is there right now. You have to be more prudent when you’re managing healthcare issues,” Findlay said.
Alexis said the closures are frustrating for the community but there is good news on the horizon.
“That $18 million investment in the expansion of the ER actually increases the number of beds, and that means two doctors have to be on shift, which reduces the risk of having no doctors on site through the night, which has been the problem,” she said.
Jhaj said the NDP is “really good with delaying projects”. She said the government needs to be pushed to finish the construction sooner and advocated for quicker processing of foreign doctors wishing to practice in B.C.
“Alberta and Saskatchewan – it takes about six to eight months there for a foreign doctor to get certified. But here it’s two years. Maybe that’s where we need to start first, so (we can) get more doctors to help the health authorities,” Jhaj said.
The candidates were also asked whether the additional seats at the Mission Secondary School replacement would be sufficient with Mission’s growth.
Jhaj voiced doubts that the project would finish on-schedule under the current government.
“In two years, with the growing community – the way that we have been growing so fast – it won’t be sufficient. And our elementary schools are full capacity right now. We need to start building more schools – elementary schools and high schools. It is very important that we start today and not wait for the two years when that school … is built, because we need to expand now with the growing community,” she said.
Fowler said he doesn’t think there’s a dearth of high schools in Mission and there needs to be another school.
“Instead of just rebuilding a school and making it slightly bigger, there needs to be a third high school. And again, that would be something that the BC Greens are behind. We’re behind building communities,” he said.
Findlay expects Mission will grow out of the new school “pretty fast” and said there’s a need to look ahead. Amidst population growth, she said infrastructure has to keep up.
“It’s not just schools; it’s the highway system – Highway 1 and Highway 11. It also has to do with our hospital care. So we have demands, and those demands have to be very carefully looked at and the investments made. I believe in education. I believe we need a lot of work in our education sector. We need to get back to core curriculum. We need to support our students to be competitive in a big competitive world. So we need the facilities to do that,” she said.
Alexis, a former school trustee in Mission, said the NDP has invested record amounts into new schools.
“In the early 2000s, the (BC Liberal) government and the Minister of Education of the day would come through Mission Secondary and that would be the end of the conversation. We’ve tried to get a new school for decades. Finally, in 2020 this announcement was made. If you want to go past the school, you can see it’s under construction, and we’re hopeful it’ll be ready for 2028,” Alexis said.
Jhaj asked Alexis whether the additional seats would be sufficient in 2028.
Alexis said: “It was the NDP government that actually gave us the green light and is putting $175 million into it. Whether or not it is adequate, obviously with the Polygon project and Phase One that is going to be underway, we will be able to build more schools to match the growth that phase one will bring.”
The final question from the public asked how candidates would work with local First Nations to move forward with harmony and respect.
Alexis, the former Abbotsford-Mission MLA defeated by Gasper in 2024, said nothing would change with how she works with local Indigenous communities.
“They’re integral to our community and we work very well alongside them. They are part of the economy and I hope will be part of the economy moving forward,” Alexis said.
Jhaj said “we cannot dictate what we should be doing” for local First Nations.
“We all need to sit at the table and and work out what we need and what they need from us,” Jhaj saod.
Fowler said the BC Greens respect the land rights of Indigenous peoples, and added that First Nations should be involved in the areas they want to be involved in.
“It’s kind of typical of the parties for the last you know 15, 20, 25 years. We listen, we nod our heads, but we don’t agree to do what they’re doing, and we don’t get them involved,” he said.
Findlay said “Indigenous history should be respected, but I believe our collective history should be respected as well.”
“As we move forward – and we will be doing lots of, I’m sure, Indigenous, non-indigenous economic partnerships – respect is a very important word when it comes to these kind of discussions. But having said all that, we have private property rights under threat in B.C. and the Conservative Party of BC has committed to repealing DRIPA (the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act),” she said.
Alexis said repealing DRIPA would play havoc on the economy and the relationships that have been formed for decades.
“It’s very disturbing to hear this kind of response,” she said.
Findlay said DRIPA is a new idea of the NDP government.
In a rebuttal, Fowler said the collective history of B.C. and Canada between Indigenous people and colonial white people is not good.
“It’s a one-sided collective history … let’s get real here – we’re not doing this fair trade thing. This is where one side basically tried to attempt a genocide,” he said.
Findlay said she was proud of her great grandparents who built in B.C. in the 1700s and 1800s, and proud of the province and country “that was built through our natural resources and through hard work and dedication.”
“We had good relations with Indigenous people and non-Indigenous over many, many, many years. Yes, there are parts of our history that some would call shameful. And in fact, it was a Conservative government who gave a national apology over the residential schools. Nobody is denying that it was wrong to take children away from their families and do it in a manner that was done. But we’ve got to move on. We have a future to build, and we should be building it together,” Findlay said.
Fowler used another rebuttal, and noted the history of the St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission.
“We have to move together, but we never have moved together before. We have got to look back at what we’ve done, and we have to – I’m not saying we have to feel bad for it forever – but we do have to make reconciliation a thing. Not just words,” he said.
Candidates also went back and forth on provincial housing initiatives, rent prices, public safety, support for businesses and the delayed opening of MLA Gasper’s constituency office.
To watch the full debate, visit the Mission Regional Chamber of Commerce YouTube channel.