McKee: "I didn’t accomplish these things on my own"
April 6, 2009 by Mark McKee
Filed under BC government, Letters, Local news, Medicine
Mark McKee, BC Liberal candidate, Columbia River-Revelstoke
This is a response to recent letters about my involvement in the restructuring of health-care facilities in Revelstoke:
As a mayor (I was Mayor of the City of Revelstoke from November 2002 until November 2008), you get involved in just about every aspect of the community. As mayor, I received direction on issues by public sentiment and direction from Council. There was no doubt that the way IHA introduced its planned changes did nothing to build community support. The plan first proposed did not — in most people’s minds — meet the needs of the community. I was the one that told IHA the plan was not acceptable and they should go back to the drawing board. We formed the mayor’s advisory committee on health care to have input on the proposed changes. Most of us knew that changes were coming and we should be part of the solutions.
Meanwhile people were protesting, marching, writing letters, and of course letting their feelings be known at any and all public forums. I did not yell and point my finger in the IHA’s face, even though that is how some people think is the way to get something done. I, along with members of the committee and Council, met often with IHA executives to inform them of the community’s position on Moberly Manor, Queen Victoria Hospital and other health and seniors facilities. I also spent many hours speaking with them privately.
This kind of process and attitude — one of negotiation, compromise and willingness to work with other levels of government — is how we achieved the goal of upgraded facilities in Revelstoke. This is how we got a $2 million grant for our indoor aquatic centre, as well as another $2 million for a new ambulance station. This is how we sold and developed our ski hill, this is how we got a controlled crossing on Mackenzie Avenue. This is how we are getting continual upgrades to the Trans-Canada Highway. I was deeply involved in each of these projects, along with many other people.
I am running for MLA because I think I can do a better job for our communities in this riding. When I talk about my involvement in any project in my campaign. I presume people know there are many others at the table. I am never implying that I should get all the credit. But regardless of what my detractors suggest, these are concrete goals and projects that were accomplished during my two terms as Mayor of the City of Revelstoke. I didn’t accomplish these things on my own and I have never claimed to have done that. Many other people played important roles but that is for them to talk about if they choose. For my part, I worked very hard and can confidently and honestly say that I, as mayor played a leading role in achieving them.
I nonetheless expect to see more politically motivated letters from NDP members and sympathizers attacking my credibility.
Therefore, I include here a letter of support from someone who really knows what went on with Moberly Manor and the IHA.
Mark McKee
BC Liberal Candidate
Columbia River-Revelstoke
Dear Mark:
I wanted to again thank you for the leadership you showed during the early years of this decade in working with both the Interior Health Authority and B.C. Housing to ensure both the upgrading and the longer term capacity expansion of Health Services within the community of Revelstoke.
As with any change, the challenges sometimes appeared overwhelming but your leadership during this period ensured that both the IHA and BC Housing listened to the concerns of the community while building the HealthCare infrastructure that Revelstoke would need in the decades ahead.
I remember the meeting you & I had with Murray Ramsden, the CEO of IHA, and some of your City Councillors on September 21st, 2004. We talked at length about your concerns for the future HealthCare infrastructure in Revelstoke and we outlined what needed to take place in order to make that the reality that it has become. With your input on behalf of your community, we designed and then delivered on something of which the whole community can be proud.
The meeting which you arranged for Murray Ramsden & I to attend on June 15th, 2004, along with several senior members of the Revelstoke community, gave the leadership that was needed at a critical juncture for the new Mount Cartier facility, the new Moberly Assisted Living residence and the upgrades to Royal Victoria Hospital to commence.
Your community is the better for your leadership
Yours truly,
Alan N. Dolman
Former Board Chair
Interior Health Authority
I think having a letter of support from the former chairman of IHA Alan Dolaman , who swept into Revelstoke and caused all the upheavel in the first place, a man who couldn’t have cared less about the seniors, families, workers and local citizens is laughable. It just goes to show that Liberals just don’t get it. A letter of support from a family who went through this tough time would be better accepted. People count first, not corporations. It is also funny that in Former Board Chair Dolman’s support letter he doesn’t know the name of the hospital in Revelstoke.
I too would be much more impressed with these statements if this candidate could have found someone in Revelstoke to provide him a letter of support.
To even think that having Alan Dolman vouch for him would stand him good stead shows an incredible lack of understanding of the people in this area.
Our former MLA Wendy McMahon also had the Alan Dolman stamp of approval. That meant that she stood by while Dolman and Ramsden carried out Gordon Campbell’s orders, closing our acute and extended care beds, and now this Liberal candidate appears to be doing exactly the same thing.
Certainly a strange strategy for winning this election.
Mr. McKee,
Hold on! I don’t recall anything from the city nor the councillors at the time doing anything to aid with the Ambulance Station, land or building for that matter. Did council “offer” any property that could be suitable? It is to my knowledge that a couple of crew memebers did foot work searching for “empty” spaces. Then, after 2 years of Revelstoke paramedics and ambulances moving from motel to motel etc, nothing happened until letters to editors from outraged citizens and public statements by MLA Norm Macdonald and a television spot by the Union publicly embarrassed the Minister of Health into bucking up!
Moberly Manor is another issue that in my belief, without the rallies, petitions and yes finger pointing from concerned citizens as well as a committee, nothing would have been changed, like building of the cottages for our seniors. Oh sure there has to be “one” to do the presenting to the higher powers that be….. but it all takes more than one. One letter of support of you really isn’t a whole lot.
He’s GOT to be kidding, about having got the Minister to promise the $$ to build an ambulance station in Revelstoke!
I was the paramedics’ union rep who did the bulk of the legwork, while City Council never came forward to ask for a (lack of) progress report for at least 2 years.
Mayor McKee never asked a single one of us how we were doing, never approached us when our ambulance was vandalized while parked outside a motel, never visited our deplorable temporary quarters when we were plunked into a rather dangerous industrial site …. in fact there wasn’t a peep out of him while we battled to continue to serve our community under very adverse conditions.
I wish to inform the readership that it was only when the citizens of Revelstoke wrote letters to editors that thoroughly embarassed the Provincial government, combined with the constant work of our MLA Norm Macdonald both in the Legislature and by letters to the Minister, and our CUPE Local 873 Union spokesperson exposed the situation on Global TV, that the Minister of Health coughed up the promise of money to build a real station. That was last August.
You see kids, when every one works together Mayors, councils, unions, and citizens, lots of good things can and do happen. You have just proven that fact in your comments.
Just because you, Anonymous and you Antoinette did ” stuff ” doesn’t mean that Mark as a mayor or as a council person or Norm as an MLA didn’t do things behind the scenes or the council members themselves for that matter.
Please stop your bad mouthing of Norm and Mark and other authorities and change your attitude. A positive and supportive rather than a negative and confrontational attitude goes so much further in our valleys.
It sure has worked here in the Invermere area with every one working together and succeeding in the ER Expansion announced just a few days ago.
Drop the ideological rants and act and talk in a more positive manner kids with your neighbours and friends. It goes much further in the long run.
Certainly it takes leadership and the involvement of whole communities and talking behind the scenes with all levels of government, to achieve the cooperation of all levels of government.
The point I was trying to make, and which I think another Revelstoke paramedic was trying to drive home, was that we paramedics felt utterly abandoned by our Mayor throughout our ordeals. He did not talk with us, ask us any questions, offer any condolences or words of support, nor work together with us.
Norm Macdonald on the other hand, constantly asked us how we were doing and if we had heard any news of funding for the building of a real ambulance station.
Good leadership, in my books, includes communication with those who one is leading.
When Revelstoke Council voted that the City should make enquiries to the authories, it was because another Councillor brought it to the table. That was only after the community embarassed the Health Ministry.
Thank you for reenforcing my point Antoinette. When people work together good things happen for every one.
I did not miss your point – your point was / is to slam some one who is idelogically different from you and yours but is still working for the betterment of all.
My point is in the second sentence, ” when people work together, good thing happen”
Those things have not happened when just one or two are wailing in the winds based on ideology. Together, all things are available to us. That is what team work is about – working to bring divergent groups together. That is what leadership is about. Leadership is not just about listening, although that too is important. Every one listens, but I know it hurts if they don’t listen to you or me when I want instant gratification.
But look at the result of many working together. That is leadership. That is team work. That is when some one has a plan that works.
Dave, I think what you are saying has merit and if we were just sheep following our leader , inputting ideas, having discussions and coming up with some wonderful plan that would be fine and dandy. But unfortunately we are in the beginning of an election process to elect our MLA. Citizens throughout this riding do not all know the candidates and frankly if we do not speak our minds of the shortcomings we feel exist in a candidate or problems we had with him representing us municipally then we are sheep also. In my opinion and the opinion of others here Mr. McKee has not listened to his community and that is something he will have to overcome to be successful. Having Gordon Campbell as an albatross around his neck is another. We have too much to lose in our valleys to sit back on our heels and watch it destroyed.
Sorry Mr or Mrs or Ms Anonymous, but facts of accomplishment wins every time. The BC Liberals have had a plan in place for years and also look well into the future. Contrary to Carol James and company. The deficit has been reduced by over $ 14,000,000, read that as $14 Billion — BILLION in the last few years. Wait times in hospitals have been reduced with the help of the Feds, the Trans Canada highway is being upgraded and twined big time as we speak again, with hugh help from the Feds.
This happens due to having a plan that is financially viable, properly thought out, worked on with communities and citizens for the betterment of all.
The BC Liberals have plans and financing thought our for the environment, the lumber trade, industry and taxation. That is called budget and financial credibility. Everyone is a part of those plans including Mark McKee.
Just listening does not work in and of itself but it is nice and comforting. Just yelling in legislature does not work in and of itself. You also have to accomplish something good for the community. My grand son yells. A listening post listens even though it just stands there and smiles. But it is bringing people together and making things happen, that is what counts.
Sorry, but for the last four years, we have not seen much of working together happening or anything else for that matter.
Please see this letter to the editor submitted by Merv Krywa of Revelstoke on his claim that Antoinette Halberstadt was not being transparent by not revealing her “full political identity”.
Yes please read it and see Mr Krywa trying to convince everyone Antoinette Halberstadt is the president of the Columbia River Revelstoke Riding when she stepped down ages ago.
Antoinette:
I find your letter more amusing than disturbing, but unfortunately there may people out there who may actually believe you. Of course, when they find out you are writing this as the president of the NDP riding association and not as a paramedic, i am sure they will have a different perspective.
Let me give you and the readers a little accurate history on the evolution of the ambulance station.
The City of Revelstoke provided space for the ambulance station in the Fire Hall. Whenever anything was needed or any special accommodation asked for it was provided. You and I both know that you approached one of Revelstoke’s senior staff and told him to stop helping the ambulance situation otherwise you would never get a new station.
The paramedics then moved out on their own initiative to prove they needed bigger and better accommodations.
They were told on several occasions that they could move back to the Fire Hall at anytime.
When the provincial government came to town the city was the first place they came to looking for property to build a new station. We went through all of the property the city owned looking for an appropriate location and held a neighbourhood meeting to see if a site it had chosen would be acceptable to the neighbourhood. It wasn’t.
I personally called several landowners in town looking for another location to no avail. I and Council had put aside property for an affordable housing development and it was a chunk of that property that was sold to the government to make a site available for the new ambulance station.
I can say with confidence that I as Mayor, the City Council, City staff and the Fire Hall crew did an exemplary job of looking after the ambulance station, then finding a new site and working towards a new station.
But of course, it was a BC Liberal government that came through with $2million in funding and we all know that is unacceptable to you.
And what did our New Democratic Party MLA have to say? His only words were: “They should have done it sooner.”
I look at this letter and your others on IPPs and I see the same thing: half truths, innuendo and nothing more than a desperate attempt to deceive the public.
You should be applauding the results of a local campaign to house our ambulances and paramedics, instead of crying foul after we achieved some real success.
I hear at Revelstoke Council meetings you are continually asking for more transparency in Council dealings. I would suggest you re-examine the way you have conducted yourself in this smear campaign and ask yourself how transparent you have been with the public on this one.
Kindly see my letter to the editor in response to Mr Krywa’s — and now I see also Mr McKee’s incorrect allegations. I am not the NDP president.
Nowhere in my comments, above, did I say that the City — and no doubt Mr McKee as Mayor — did not look for or offer land for an ambulance station. Of course that is what a Mayor would do when eventually approached by the Provincial government’s agents when they eventually started looking for property after the citizens set up a hue and cry about the plight of the ambulance service.
So, it must be that I am being confused with one of the ‘Anonymous’s in this blog.
Mr McKee must realize that it is unwise to open up the complex subject of our vacating the couple of rooms we were occupying in the firehall in the first place, due to the expansion of Fire service needs, and with which I find no fault. Suffice it to say, though, that my memory of the situation is as follows:-
The Provincial government’s BC Ambulance agents did not respond to the Fire Chief’s repeated communications in this regard for at least 6 months, and then at the 11th hour — about 3 days before the deadline the Fire Chief had set to them, for us to be out of one of the rooms we were occupying — the Chief offered to extend the deadline for a short while. I advised that that would simply give them an excuse to further delay getting on with plans to build the ambulance station they had first promised 15 years prior.
So, when the deadline day arrived and the Provincial agents had neither found us an alternative nor worked out another plan with the Fire Chief, our office and sleeping quarters for 2 people were squeezed into one room sized about 10 feet by 10 feet. The only place for some of the furniture was on top of the beds. I still have the photo’s.
So yes we left for a motel.
I am not aware of any subsequent invitations for us to move back into the firehall. There wasn’t room for us and our supplies. Sometime not long thereafter, there was also no room for our second ambulance to park in the bay with the fire trucks.
At no time did the Mayor thank us for soldiering on, ask us how we were doing, what we needed, or how they could help in any way to secure an adequate base from which to serve our community. Our Unit Chief of the time reported in fact that the Mayor crossed to the other side of the street whenever she was walking towards him. (And no she is not an NDP hack and so let us not again hear the familiar refrain that this is NDP smoke and mirrors etc etc)
We felt — and still feel — that it is just taken forgranted that we paramedics will always be there, will always respond to calls for help, no matter what our working conditions are. The trouble with us, is that — like wives and mothers — yes, this is how we operate. And I, as Union shop steward, try to improve working conditions so that we don’t burn out and have to quit, and so that we can attract and keep new paramedics.
We were extremely happy when the public strongly supported the rezoning of the land eventually found for a new station, and glad when the Minister eventually announced the funding to build one. The members all say, though, that they worry that it’s just a pre-election ploy, and will only really rejoice when they see the shovel in the ground.
This is another example of a Liberal Leaders actually not being in touch with us “common folk”. They actually believe they are doing good things and with their blinders on they can choose to ignore whatever they don’t like to deal with. Sometimes all it takes is a little consideration to the people you represent, Mr. McKee.
Sounds like an awful lot of back peddling and trying to cover up some stuff in the dirt that the NDP don’t want spoken of.
What is it some say? Me thinks they doth protest too much ?
Given Mark’s comments and the NDP’s comments? sorry, but I have to run with Mark.
David, from reading your writings on many different blogs I can imagine you feeling like this. We all have our own opinions and you are entitled to them as we all are. But you are blending facts with backpeddling. Pick up your phone and call some residents of Revelstoke and do your own fact finding mission. I bet you would be surprised to find most of us feel this way regarding the ambulance issue and health care in general.
Lies, lies and more lies! How can we voters tell the good guys from the bad? Where is the truth to be found, if anywhere at all? I am trying to vote honestly and with integrity and I have to say, it is very very difficult with all the accusations and denials flying everywhere. Our politicians talk about transparency and yet each side flings an unbelievable amount of mud around. The question is, which is mud and which is not and why should the voters be the ones who have to wade through it in an attempt to sort it all out? Why don’t you all play fairly and cleanly? Somehow, instead of our rising to a higher standard, elections seem to bring out the very worst in us. This election is fast becoming a smaller version of the last federal campaign when even the school children were shocked at the behaviour of the adults. You are all behaving like toddlers in the sandbox and I have to say it is very unbecoming.
I thought an MLA was supposed to listen to and represent ALL of his or her constituents?
You know – ask young people what it’s like to live on $8 an hour, sit down with our seniors and listen to their concerns about cut backs to care by this government, meet with laid off forestry workers, ask teachers how they are coping with overcrowded classrooms, talk to single parents raising their children in poverty while watching expensive taxpayer funded ads about “The Best Place on Earth”, etc. That sort of thing.
Instead it sounds like the Liberal candidate is planning to represent Gordon Campbell first and foremost.
Well said Kingsley, The best comment of them all.
As the upcoming provincial election date of May 12th draws near I was researching the Internet for information on some of the more localized and critical election issues. After spending some time going over the varied commentaries on this particular website I feel compelled to respond to some of the comments that have appeared regarding the Revelstoke Ambulance Station.
Sometimes it is difficult to prove one’s words without concrete evidence. Everyone has their own account of what is factual or fiction. Equally, everyone can choose what to believe, or not to believe.
When the “anonymous” responder to this topic has no recollection of the city or the councilors doing anything to aid in securing a suitable site for a new ambulance station, this is likely a factual statement. Factual because there is no possible way this person could know everything that went on behind the scenes and how many conversations and brainstorming sessions took place in Revelstoke’s search for a solution.
This one issue is very similar to many others that crossed over the Council table where the majority of the public has no real grasp of the hard work that goes on behind closed doors to make things work. The Council in place during this time was successful and functional as a team and was led by a mayor with high-level leadership qualities. Contrary to what has been suggested by some people, that same Mayor, Mark McKee, and Council cared very much about the local paramedic situation.
The “anonymous” writer also credits a couple of ambulance crew members for their attempts to find suitable space. I extend equal credit to the Mayor and Council of the day and to the BCAS Area Superintendent for their arduous but often non-publicized attempts to do the same. This was all in the interest of providing our local paramedics a deserved and long-overdue facility to work from.
Comments needing clarification are the assertions made by Antoinette Halberstadt and the comments about her personal expectations of Mark McKee while he was Mayor.
To be specific I will defend Mr. McKee, the Council and City Administrator during that period by referencing some key facts.
Throughout the process of the BCAS transitioning to a 24-hour on-call system and requiring night accommodation for paramedics there were operational difficulties encountered by not only BCAS staff but also by Revelstoke Fire Department staff. At the time, the BCAS operated out of the Fire Station under a lease agreement and the terms of the agreement became difficult to satisfy.
As Fire Chief one of my responsibilities was to ensure the accommodation and facility were suitable for the tenant and for Fire Department operations. To do so was difficult, but not impossible. It meant that the paramedics’ accommodations would become even less appropriate but none the less still functional.
After several attempts at making suitable alterations to the facility, I was asked personally by Antoinette Halberstadt to stop helping make things work.
Antoinette was the union representative for the local paramedics and I was asked to let things be so that the union could take action against their employer by forcing the issue of lease non-conformance.
The union took action involving external and higher-ranking union officials who ultimately forced their employer to find other accommodation for the paramedics. When this was done the paramedics vacated the Fire Hall well in advance of their lease termination. This was a job action and the media reports and innuendo that the paramedics were kicked out of the fire station were false.
Another one of my responsibilities was to keep the City Administrator, the Mayor and Council informed of the matter. There were many discussions about the issue and my superiors were informed of the request given to me by the local union representative to step aside so they could take a position.
The criticisms directed at Liberal candidate Mark McKee by Antoinette Halberstadt are as unfounded as they are disconcerting.
As a union representative, a newly elected City Councilor and as an NDP official I would expect her to understand why Mr. McKee and many other city elected officials could not and should not intervene in a process involving an external union and a non-municipal management structure.
Antoinette states: “I was the paramedics’ union rep who did the bulk of the legwork, while City Council never came forward to ask for a (lack of) progress report for at least 2 years.”
Antoinette Halberstadt was elected to her local union as their representative and appears to have satisfied her members’ needs by her union dedication.
Mark McKee and the entire Council of the day were elected by the taxpayers and their decisions in this matter were made based on the facts they had before them. Those decisions satisfied the needs of the municipal taxpayers.
In closing I have to agree with the responder “David” where reference is made to everyone working together for the betterment of all. It should be as simple as that.
I can only hope that as a City Councilor, Antoinette Halberstadt will work as hard for the local taxpayers and at being a team player as she does in her unfounded attack on the credibility of BC Liberal candidate Mark McKee.
Wade Rota
Former City of Revelstoke Fire Chief
Revelstoke, BC