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Campbell River care home plans shelved as costs balloon in BC budget
2026-02-17
Campbell River will have to keep waiting for a desperately-needed long-term care facility, after the provincial budget hit desks today.
Finance minister Brenda Bailey said construction of seven long-term care homes, including a facility planned to open in Campbell River next year, has been delayed as the province scrambles to cut capital expenditures. Bailey says it’s because of the cost per long-term care bed, which she deemed “unsustainable” at up to $1.8 million per bed.
That project was announced in 2023, due to be completed in 2027.
“People in Campbell River and around B.C. deserve good health care at every stage of life, and that’s why improving high-quality long-term care is a top priority for our government,” said Premier David Eby in a statement announcing the project. “This new long-term care facility will be a vibrant new home for seniors on Vancouver Island. Seniors deserve to age with dignity and receive the care they need in the community they know and love.”
The project was supposed to start construction in 2025, but ground was never broken at the 375 2nd Avenue property.
The facility would have created 153 new long-term care beds to the region, including a 10-bed hospice unit, a 26-bed convalescent care unit, and a 26-bed specialized population unit.
Its construction budget was $134 million, with nearly $54 million of that cost to be covered by the Comox Strathcona Regional Hospital District.
Former NDP MLA Michelle Babchuk cheered on the announcement in 2023.
“The range of services in the new care home will give seniors, and their loved ones, peace of mind knowing they will be supported with the health care they need, close to home,” she said at the time.
No new timeline for the facility has been announced. Plans for similar facilities in Nanaimo and Colwood announced in 2023 have not been shelved, but projects in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Kelowna, Delta, Fort St John, and Squamish have.
The provincial budget projects a $13.3 billion deficit, the largest in BC’s history.
Aerial view of the site planned for a long-term care home near the Campbell River Hospital.