Parking lot where the Kamloops Cancer Care Centre is set to be built. (Credit: Abby Zieverink)

Local leaders say there has been radio silence from the BC Government when it comes to the Kamloops Cancer Care Centre.

It comes after Health Minister Adrian Dix said he would be returning to Kamloops in the fall to present the business plan for the Cancer Centre, however, he has yet to return.

Thompson Regional Hospital District Board Chair Mike O’Reilly says it feels like “Groundhog Day” playing out again with yet another failed promise on the timeline for the Cancer Care Centre.

“That is how I believe the board is feeling and how I believe the residents of the Thompson Region are feeling; we had been promised,” said O’Reilly.

“If the provincial government wanted this to be built, they could make that decision. They could have been here in the fall, they could have been here in the summer – it could have been done.”

O’Reilly says – once again – they have been left in the dark with new timelines for when the business plan will be completed and when shovels could hit the ground.

“We know that there are two, if not three other Cancer Centres that are getting newly built or completely renovated coming up in the next handful of years, and it is about where Kamloops gets positioned in that list. Be in the top four, not the bottom four because that could add on another 5 to 10 years.”

In a bid to get Kamloops to the top of the priority list, O’Reilly says the TNRD’s $75,000 advocacy campaign – which looks to put pressure on the BC Government to fulfill its long-promise of a cancer facility in the region- will be crucial.

“We need the help of the public. This isn’t just a 31-person board advocating for the Cancer Centre Campaign – it is the entire region – putting the pressure on the provincial government to not only announce this and continue with the business case but to get that shovel in the ground.”

RadioNL reached out to Minister Dix for a comment on the issue – however, he has yet to respond.

The Minister is set to join Premier David Eby for an announcement about cancer care in the province at 10:30 Tuesday morning.

In May 2023, Dix told reporters the Kamloops Cancer Care Centre is set to open its doors to the first patient by 2027.