David Eby on What Must Change in BC

Despite what opposition party leaders may claim, new British Columbia Premier David Eby says he has a straightforward vision for the province.

“It’s that British Columbia can be a place where everyone can create a good home for themselves,” Eby said in a mid-December interview in his office four weeks after he was sworn in as premier.

“You have a decent place to live, you have good services in your community, that you have a good job that pays you the wages to have a reasonable lifestyle, and that British Columbia continues to lead the way on the challenges of our time around climate change, environmental sustainability and around innovation and the new economy.”

These priorities present opportunities for the province and are the right ones in a period of global uncertainty, said Eby, who at 46 was acclaimed to replace John Horgan as NDP leader in October after the party disqualified his only competitor for the job.

“It’s an adjustment for sure,” he said of his first month on the job, with its increased security. “The kids get a kick out of the fact I start the day every day being taken away by the police.”

Since becoming premier Eby has made a series of announcements aimed at introducing himself to British Columbians and has promised action focused on housing, health care, public safety and climate change.

In recent interviews BC Green Party Leader Sonia Furstenau criticized Eby for failing to tie his priorities to an overall vision for the province, while BC Liberal Leader Kevin Falcon said there is a chasm between what Eby says he wants to do and the outcomes people are seeing in their communities.

Asked about Falcon’s criticism, Eby said it’s true there are areas where more work needs to be done and he promised that British Columbians will have a clear choice in the next election.

“You take the issue of health care, for example, I’m a strong believer in a public health-care system,” he said. “One that doesn’t allow people to buy their way to the front of the line, because I don’t think that addresses the line, it just changes the front.”

Eby said he supports investing in the health-care system, building new hospitals, buying private clinics to bring them into the public sector and making sure people can access the services they need.

“Mr. Falcon has different perspectives about this kind of thing,” he said. “He dramatically cut health-care funding when he was in government, supports that people needed. It’s well documented in the newspapers. He denies it up and down, but it’s a fact.”

The B.C. budget from 2013-14 showed health-care spending increasing from 2006 to 2016 at an average of 4.3 per cent per year.

Nor will getting rid of the speculation and vacancy tax solve B.C.’s housing market problems, and ripping up the CleanBC plan for cutting carbon emissions won’t help address climate change, Eby said. “There’ll be a clear choice for British Columbians when it comes to the ballot.”

But what would he say to British Columbians who might agree with Falcon that outcomes have been disappointing? That announcements haven’t been enough when one in five people lack a family doctor, housing costs are among the highest on the continent, record numbers of people are dying from illicit drug poisonings, greenhouse gas emission targets have been missed and disorder on the streets seems to be growing?

“I think it’s important to recognize that some of the big challenges we face were profoundly impacted by the pandemic,” Eby responded. “We were making good progress on our wait lists around health care. We were decreasing wait times for surgery and delivering high quality care and the pandemic just dealt a massive body blow to our health-care system. And it’s not just us, it’s across Canada and around the world that health-care systems are still recovering from the pandemic.”

Similarly, he said, when the borders closed the illicit drug supply became more toxic and more people died from poisonings, undoing progress the government had made.

In some areas, the province’s challenges are a byproduct of its success, Eby argued. “Around housing we have had a massive population increase because of our success investing in British Columbians and creating jobs and opportunity here in the province.”

A record number of people have been moving to B.C. and that adds to challenges around housing, essential services and education, he said. “It’s important to identify what the cause of those challenges is and why we need to respond, and some of it frankly is our success. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to respond to the problems, but it is important to be frank about what’s causing them.”

Eby was first elected as an MLA in 2013 when he defeated then-premier Christy Clark in Vancouver-Point Grey. A lawyer, he had been serving as executive director of the BC Civil Liberties Association and his roots were in human rights law acting and advocating on behalf of people in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

After the NDP formed government in 2017, Horgan made Eby attorney general and later gave him responsibility for housing as well. His high-profile jobs included fixing the financial mess at insurer ICBC and attacking money laundering.

Since becoming premier Eby has struck a balance between signalling a new direction and continuing the work the NDP government has been doing for five years.

When he announced his cabinet earlier this month, for example, about one-third of ministers kept their jobs, one-third were reassigned to different ministries and one-third were promoted from the backbenches.

He has signalled some bold new directions. He reversed a previous government decision that would have ended individualized autism funding, for example, and environmental advocates were pleased to see mandate letters included instructions to work towards protecting 30 per cent of the province’s land base by 2030.

“Around issues of climate change, both resilience and sequestering carbon, but also protecting wild spaces for future generations, we’re doing a lot across the province with industry, with Indigenous groups around protected areas, land use planning and so on, and I think if we work in a dedicated way we can hit those targets,” said Eby when asked about the conservation goal.

The process is happening in partnership with First Nations and through land use planning across the province, he said, adding it will take an ecosystem and species-at-risk lens to make sure the government achieves the goals British Columbians expect. That includes protecting good jobs, but also setting aside wild spaces that are irreplaceable, he said.

At the same time, despite saying during the leadership campaign that B.C. can’t meet its carbon emission reduction targets while approving new fossil fuel projects, Eby has been more circumspect as premier.

Asked about three gas pipelines proposed for northern B.C. that are opposed in some Indigenous communities and how approvals might be affected by the province’s commitment to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Eby gave an answer indicating the government is staying on the same path it’s been on.

“We’ve introduced a new environmental assessment act that was co-developed with the First Nations Leadership Council,” he said. “It strongly incorporates Indigenous participation throughout the entire environmental assessment process. My hope is certainly that that new process will facilitate projects going ahead that have support built in from the ground up.”

The message is clear to all companies in B.C. that want to operate on the land that Indigenous leadership is key to success in the province, Eby said. “We’re starting to really see projects that come forward that have a strong Indigenous partnership built in and that’s really positive news for Indigenous communities across the province, but also for British Columbians that we’re heading in the right direction on these issues.”

Similarly, Eby said the $10 application fee that public bodies can charge to people making freedom of information requests is staying.

His mandate letter to Citizens’ Services Minister Lisa Beare made no mention of improving access to information or fixing the FOI system, which continues to see average processing times that exceed the 30 days the law allows public bodies to respond.

Eby said the focus for the government will continue to be proactively releasing information wherever possible. “The minister responsible for citizens’ services will continue her work to make sure that British Columbians have access to their personal information and that the government is operating in a way that provides transparency and accountability,” he said. “Those priorities aren’t going to change and the emphasis will be on finding ways we can be proactive around disclosure.”

The province will also continue participating in the push to have the federal government increase its contribution to health-care funding and act as a strong partner in delivering a robust health-care system, Eby said.

In his view the case isn’t weakened by B.C.’s recent announcement that in the first six months of the fiscal year the projected $5-billion deficit had turned into a $5-billion surplus. “So this year we have a surplus,” he said. “Next year we may not, and increasing health-care spending puts pressure on other priority areas that they may have, the education system for example.”

“The goal I have is that we’re here for a long time because we’re pushing for the things British Columbians are prioritizing and we’re delivering by taking action on those initiatives,” Eby said. “That’s why I’ve set out the priority areas that I have of health care, housing, public safety and a clean and fair economy that works for British Columbians.”

He and his team will continue working hard on those priorities, he said.

“Hopefully when it comes to the next election British Columbians are going to see that their priorities are ours and while we haven’t solved every issue we’re making good progress on them.”