Editor:
I’m glad to hear that the province is planning to build a new hospital in Surrey, and Cloverdale seems like a good location for it. But given that KPU has been unable for years to offer anywhere near the number of trades-training spaces that our region needs, I wish the hospital could go on other land in Cloverdale.
As you may know, since its inception in 1981, Kwantlen has only been funded to offer half the number of post-secondary student seats, per region resident, that the rest of B.C.’s college regions get, and the situation’s always been even worse for trades training, with Kwantlen being funded for only one-third of the trades-training seats that the rest of B.C. gets (and only one-fifth the number of adult-upgrading seats). So KPU’s trades-training campus in Cloverdale has long needed to be expanded significantly.
For the immediate health-care needs of our region, for sure we need this hospital. And for the long-term social and economic health of our region, KPU needs to at least double its capacity.
I hope the new hospital building won’t prevent that from happening.
Geoff Dean, Surrey