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In the wake of Newfoundland and Labrador’s health minister challenging people to sue over medical transport delays, a Liberal MHA says people aren\u2019t interested in turning to the courts and want action.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Lela Evans, who also represents Torngat Mountains, said people in Labrador face extensive travel delays getting to and from medical appointments. She also said people could consider taking legal action<\/a> against her own government.\u00a0Evans also suggested she can’t accept being the minister of health while medical delays continue.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m at a loss for words,\u201d Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair MHA Lisa Dempster told CBC Radio\u2019s Labrador Morning Thursday.<\/p>\n There are problems facing the health-care sector across the province but Dempster said as the minister, Evans can enact change and improve the medical transport program.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople aren’t looking for a courtroom. They’re looking for care. And when we step up to a leadership role, we have a responsibility to focus on making things better,\u201d said Dempster.<\/p>\n WATCH | Lisa Dempster ‘at a loss for words’ over Evans’s comments: Liberal MHA says Premier Wakeham must respond to health minister\u2019s comments. Now he has<\/p>\n Labrador MHA Lisa Dempster says she was at a loss for words when she heard Health Minister Lela Evans muse about quitting her post over problems with medical transportation. Now, Premier Tony Wakeham has weighed in on Evans\u2019 words.<\/p>\n In the previous interview, Evans said people on Labrador’s north coast have faced delays getting to and from medical appointments in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. She also said there were recently 94 passengers unable to get home, in addition to patients trying to get out.<\/p>\n Evans said she had high hopes for Medavie Health N.L. However, she’s seen “erosion of service” since Medavie was contracted, and since consolidating the health authorities under N.L. Health Services.<\/p>\n Evans said “drastic measures” are needed if delays continue.<\/p>\n “What\u2019s the point of even [having] the provincial government manage the health-care system for northern Labrador?” said Evans. She noted travel delays affect whether people seek treatment in the first place.<\/p>\n Dempster said Premier Tony Wakeham needs to be asked whether Evans has been set up for failure in the role of health minister, adding both Evans and Wakeham, who was the former CEO of the Labrador-Grenfell Regional Health Authority, know the problems impacting the region.<\/p>\n \u201cShe knows the issues and she knows the fixes,\u201d said Dempster.<\/p>\n In an email to CBC News, Medavie Health N.L. senior communications advisor Tracey Boland said they are working with the health authority to improve services, particularly in light of the challenges presented by the province’s weather and geography.<\/p>\n The statement also acknowledged that over the weekend, about 90 patients were delayed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay due to weather.<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand how stressful these kinds of flight delays or cancellations can be for patients and families,\u201d reads the statement.<\/p>\n ‘We have to improve health care’<\/p>\n Evans made those comments to Labrador Morning’s host hours before the Progressive Conservative government released their first budget Wednesday. <\/p>\n Reporters at Confederation Building ahead of the budget were unaware of Evans’s comments. They were part of a lock-in, where members of the media are granted early access to budget documents and able to interview ministers in advance of the public \u2014 but don’t have access to their cell phones or internet. <\/p>\n But Evans’s remarks are in stark contrast to comments she made to reporters in the lock-up, where she said the PCs would properly fund and support offered health-care services.<\/p>\n \u201cWith this budget, I am so proud to be a part of … Premier Tony Wakeham\u2019s team because every single one of us take our responsibilities seriously. But we have an obligation to the public and if we say we’re going to roll out programs, we’re going to properly plan them, and then we’re going to adequately fund them.\u201d<\/p>\n Evans was also not present for the budget speech due to an appointment, posting an image of herself in the St. Clare\u2019s Mercy Hospital waiting room on her Facebook page.<\/p>\n The budget has earmarked $5.4 billion for health-care spending.<\/p>\n In response to Evans\u2019s comments, Wakeham responded in an emailed statement to CBC on Wednesday, calling Evans a \u201cproud and authentic champion for her community.\u201d<\/p>\n “Her recent comments were a sincere expression of the longstanding frustration felt by people in northern Labrador,” Wakeham said in the statement.<\/p>\n “She was a passionate advocate for improving health care services for Indigenous peoples and northern Labrador residents long before she became minister of health and remains so to this day. We will continue to work with Lela and our entire government team to deliver the better health-care services that her constituents, and all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians expect.”<\/p>\n LISTEN | Health Minister Lela Evans voices frustration with medical transport in Labrador:<\/p>\n Labrador Morning11:10’Sue me and sue the government,’ says health minister Lela Evans on North Coast medical travel delays<\/p>\n People from the North Coast are getting stranded in Happy Valley-Goose Bay after medical appointments, sometimes for days. Health Minister Lela Evans says if the situation continues, northern Labrador residents should find a lawyer and file a class action lawsuit for the failures. You’ll hear her speaking candidly about the state of medical travel in the region.<\/p>\n Download our free CBC News app<\/a> to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click here to visit our landing page<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-638794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=638794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777562316_615_default.jpg\")
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Health Minister Lela Evans, speaking to reporters in Wednesday’s budget lock-up, says the budget makes her proud. (Ryan Cooke\/CBC)<\/p>\n