VANCOUVER—Ambulance paramedics were on hand Saturday to ‘greet’ BC Liberals meeting to discuss British Columbia communities. Paramedics outside the meeting held up statistics on ambulance wait times across the province for delegates to see.
The paramedics, members of CUPE 873, say the lack of attention by the Liberals paid to the “critical condition” of ambulance services has contributed to average wait times that are far higher than the Canadian benchmark 911 response time of 8 minutes, 59 seconds – as high as 44 minutes.
Most of the delegates chose to ignore the shocking statistics in the window. Passersby, on the other hand, were very interested in the wait time information provided by the paramedics. The paramedics were joined by CUPE and BCTF supporters at the event.
