Housing:

BC’s Premier in waiting says among his priorities as the NDP leader will be to tackle the housing issue in the province.

David Eby says this includes housing for homeless people, supportive housing for those with mental health and addiction issues, and housing for the middle class.

“So many families that earn a decent income, that can’t find a place to rent, let alone buy. Especially in an air of rising interest rates.”

He says the increase of homeless people on the streets is partly due to the lack of housing available for middle-class families.

“We are having to do a pretty unprecedented thing in modern history, and in B.C., which is to have the provincial government involved in the delivery of middle-class housing and making sure that it is attainable and affordable.”

Additionally, Eby suggests addressing the housing issue in the province will help with other priorities he has as the BC NDP leader.

“Housing is what really ties together so many issues, I have heard from communities struggling with healthcare because there is no housing for nurses to come to their communities.”

His list of priorities also includes addressing issues with healthcare and public safety in the province.

Healthcare: 

David Eby plans to open the lines of communication with healthcare professionals to help address our crumbling healthcare system.

Eby says it’s clear, the province is going into “another season of remarkable strain on our healthcare system.”

“I was out in Kamloops and other parts of the province, and there is huge anxiety about our healthcare system. About if people get sick, whether they will get the care they need and deserve, in our hospital’s people needing a family doctor,”

He says the pandemic is the cause of the strain on our healthcare system, however, he suggests there are some challenges with the health authorities too.

“They are a layer between elected officials that can change policy and, the frontline doctors, nurses, health professionals, and the people that clean the operating room and so on, that sometimes prevent information from coming up that could help address the problem.”

To address that, he says front-line workers and family doctors will have direct access to his office and public service staff with the province, to help ensure their voices are heard.

“(And) to ensure issues on the front lines are addressed as quickly as they can.”

Crime:

As for addressing prolific offenders, David Eby says he is looking forward to working with service providers with law enforcement to help address street crime in areas they can.

“When we talk to leadership and the police, they say hey look we are the social service of last resort, we can’t respond to serious cases of mental health and addiction using policing tools.

He says there is an issue with the Criminal Code of Canada, about what he says are some of the changes made by the federal government.

“This is an issue across Canada, that provincial governments are seeing following those federal changes, so we need to press them to address that. But at the same time, we need to use our provincial authorities around health to make sure we are intervening to stop that cycle.”

Eby remembers back when he was a lawyer in BC.

“This is when the BC Liberals were in power, cycling in and out of jail, causing havoc, not getting better, not having that intervention to address the issues they faced, so I am looking forward to getting to work on that.”