Paramedic bill will pass, B.C. Liberals say

VICTORIA – The B.C. legislature will extend its sitting into Friday's royal visit, and into the weekend if necessary to force a contract extension on striking ambulance paramedics, B.C. Liberal house leader Mike de Jong says.

The government intends that the legislated contract be passed before the house adjourns for next week's Remembrance Day events, de Jong told reporters Thursday morning.

NDP house leader Mike Farnworth said altering the legislature schedule requires a motion that the opposition can debate for as long as necessary, including into the night and into the weekend.

Farnworth denied that the paramedics' union has been engaging in wildcat strike actions that have caused service to drop far below the court-ordered essential service levels. Also the NDP's public safety critic, he said the public was not being put at risk by the wildcat actions detailed by the government.

B.C.'s 3,600 paramedics and dispatchers are completing a mail-in vote Friday on the latest offer from the B.C. Ambulance Service, and the government's Bill 21 seeks to impose those terms until April. They include a three per cent wage increase retroactive to last April when the strike began just before the B.C. election campaign.

Health Minister Kevin Falcon argues that the situation has become urgent with the onset of H1N1 pandemic influenza and a paramedic management team that is exhausted from covering extensive absences by staff and on-call paramedics during the dispute.

The health ministry says the seven-month strike by B.C. ambulance paramedics has resulted in loss of service during various targeted strike actions, despite an essential services ruling and court orders in May and September to keep ambulance crews on the job.

A rally and "job action direction" by CUPE local 873 on Sept. 19 and 20 resulted in no ambulances staffed in Whistler, Hope and Agassiz, and a 60 per cent drop in staffing at the dispatch centre for the Interior and North, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reports that the dispute has resulted in patient care records being "damaged, lost or tampered with," and ambulance equipment used in heart attack research "damaged, lost or removed from ambulances."

The strike has also prevented 350 paramedic students from completing their training because the union has refused to participate in student practicums, preventing new recruits from joining the service and forcing the Justice Institute of B.C. to cancel paramedic courses.

NDP leader Carole James said the government could have averted the long, bitter dispute by imposing binding arbitration, which she called for several months ago. The NDP will oppose the back-to-work legislation and vote against it, she said.

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