SURREY – On REDFM today, John Rustad falsely claimed about the new Surrey hospital: “we can’t even start the construction yet because all the permitting and background stuff has not been completed yet.”

In fact, permits are in place and work on the second Surrey hospital started a year ago. A simple look at the hospital site shows it’s full of construction equipment including diggers, trucks and several cranes.

“It’s shocking that John Rustad doesn’t even know that hospital construction is well underway,” said Mike Starchuk, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale. “If he paid any attention to Surrey’s healthcare needs, he would know the hospital has been under construction for a year. And this is coming from someone who wants to cut $4.1 billion from healthcare, and cancel projects. That’s a risk to Surrey’s healthcare that we can’t afford.”

Rustad was a cabinet minister in a BC Liberal government that refused to build the hospital and instead sold off the land designated for it.

Recent photos of the site: