Brenda Bailey, BC minister of finance, delivers the government’s 2026 budget. (photo from flickr.com/photos/bcgovphotos)
British Columbia’s 2026 budget sends a message that should concern every family in this province: seniors can wait. Indefinitely.
Seven scheduled long-term care projects have been delayed. These designated projects were to be built in Abbotsford, Campbell River, Chilliwack, Kelowna, Delta, Fort St. John and Squamish. They now have no completion dates. Are these “delays” just another broken government promise?
This is not a minor policy adjustment. It is a policy choice with real consequences. The reality is that this reinforces an all too familiar pattern: the fastest-growing demographic in the province continues to receive the slowest response. What is government waiting for?
When long-term care beds are delayed, the need does not disappear. It shifts. It shifts into overcrowded hospitals, onto exhausted family caregivers, and into the homes of seniors who are increasingly isolated and struggling to cope without adequate support.
Despite the fiscal challenges facing the province, delay of critical infrastructure for seniors leaves seniors living in isolation and without proper supports. Government knows this produces worse outcomes for seniors.
The province is aging faster than its systems are evolving. Every year of delay widens the gap between need and capacity. While governments talk about sustainability, the current approach is neither sustainable nor strategic. Even with the completion of these planned beds, demand for long-term care beds vastly outpaces availability. It always will.
Delaying long-term care without rapidly expanding home support is not a cost-saving measure. It not only shifts the burdens of care, but the costs. It shifts costs to emergency departments. It shifts costs to family caregivers who reduce work hours or leave the workforce. It shifts costs in its impact on seniors’ physical and mental health as isolation deepens. And, ultimately, it shifts even greater costs back onto the health system.
This is why the 2026 budget was a missed opportunity for bold solutions.
If capital projects must be delayed, then investment in home support should surge. Instead, innovation in home and community care remains an afterthought – despite overwhelming evidence that it is the most cost-effective way to support aging populations.
Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia knows that most seniors want to age at home. Supporting them there is dramatically cheaper than institutional care. Preventing crises is cheaper than responding to them. Keeping people connected is cheaper than treating the consequences of isolation.
The math is not complicated. The policy response should not be either. This is why JSABC has long been a leading advocate for universal free access to home support for all BC seniors.
Across British Columbia, community organizations are already proving what works: volunteer-driven wellness checks, culturally appropriate outreach, transportation assistance, social programs and coordinated home-support initiatives that keep seniors healthier and independent longer. These are not luxury services. They are preventive health care in its most practical form. Yet they remain chronically underfunded, and our community organizations can’t keep pace to support our seniors’ needs province wide.
Home support is not a side program. It is the backbone of a modern seniors care strategy focused on providing alternative service delivery models and providing support for people to age well in place.
It is time for government to prioritize seniors. Ignoring the problem today won’t change the system for when we ourselves are looking for extra support not so far into the future.
Jeff Moss is executive director of Jewish Seniors Alliance of British Columbia.