Former B.C. attorney general and housing minister David Eby will be sworn in as British Columbia's new premier by Lt. Gov. Janet Austin on Nov. 18, the office of outgoing leader John Horgan has announced.JONATHAN HAYWARD/The Canadian Press
David Eby has yet to be sworn in as British Columbia’s next premier but he plans to introduce legislation in the next few weeks that will tackle the biggest issues on his plate: a health care system coming apart at the seams, and a crisis of confidence in public safety.
“My goal,” the premier-designate told reporters after being invited to form a government by the Lieutenant-Governor last week, “will be to work through with our team what the world of the possible is.”
That world is circumscribed by factors beyond Mr. Eby’s control, and he faces headwinds that his predecessor, John Horgan, did not.
Mr. Horgan’s New Democrats secured a majority in a snap election two years ago when the pandemic dominated all, and the public regarded his government as a steady hand at the helm. The health care and economic challenges presented by the pandemic have not gone away, but the general mood of goodwill has faded. Today, British Columbians are dissatisfied with much, including rising inflation on top of already unaffordable housing, random violent attacks on strangers and multiple climate disasters.
Mr. Eby said in an interview that he has much to do – and seeking a fresh mandate to govern is not on that list. He takes some guidance from the recent municipal elections across B.C., in which voters tossed out dozens of incumbent mayors.
“The way I read what happened across the province is, people want to see really strong action on housing, they wanted to see really strong action on the chaos and challenges of mental health and addiction in our communities. … And governments that fail to respond to those challenges are not going to get a second chance.”
Mr. Eby, who had been serving as attorney-general and minister responsible for housing, is sticking with the direction set by Mr. Horgan. The difference, he says, is that he intends to move forward “in a really aggressive and urgent way.”
Housing is the one policy area where Mr. Eby offered specific proposals before he was declared NDP Leader by acclamation in a messy race in which his only challenger was disqualified.
He sees a role for the province in the construction of homes for the middle class. He’ll set aside funds to protect existing rental homes. And he would increase density by preapproving builders in major urban centres to replace existing single-family homes with three units on the same footprint. The Union of B.C. Municipalities says Mr. Eby can’t count on the co-operation of local governments if he intends to force them to meet housing growth targets, but with the province’s high in-migration numbers, the pressure on housing will continue.
The opposition Liberals continue to prod at what they see as Mr. Eby’s Achilles’ heel: They say that during his five years as attorney-general, public safety eroded. Prolific and violent offenders are back on the streets because of his “catch and release” justice system.
Mr. Eby says the main fix for prolific offenders needs to come from Ottawa, with amendments to the Criminal Code. But he also will have on his desk a framework for changes that can be made in Victoria, if he accepts the recommendations of a pair of experts he commissioned to study repeat offenders and random stranger attacks. The LePard-Butler report calls for legislative changes, investments in mental-health programs and a new kind of involuntary rehabilitation facility for those who present a risk of harm to others – something Mr. Eby has not ruled out.
Mr. Eby, who began his career as a lawyer representing clients from the Downtown Eastside who were often struggling with mental-health and addiction issues, said his government must first invest in better services. “The opportunity and the chance for us to intervene in many communities is around mental health, addiction and supports for treatment for people. … And in doing so, we will increase the feelings of safety that people have about their downtowns.”
When it comes to health care, Mr. Eby credits his wife, family physician Cailey Lynch, for his understanding of the current challenges. The province has already announced a string of initiatives designed to alleviate shortages of health care staff, but Mr. Eby has offered nothing more, to date, than a commitment to “intensive” work on this file. Some of that will be to continue the years-old lobbying effort by the provinces in seeking more federal resources.
Mr. Eby also promises climate action – an agenda item forced on him by his would-be leadership challenger, Anjali Appadurai, who was disqualified from the NDP leadership race based on allegations of cheating by the Eby campaign. Here, he has provided a few specifics – he opposes expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, and wants to fast-track the work to protect old-growth forests. He says he sees an urgency to act given the climate disasters – flood, fire and drought – experienced in B.C. over the past year alone. “It’s obvious to many of us that we are feeling anxious about our present,” he said, “and the impacts that are coming sooner than many people expected.”
Affordability has been one of the NDP’s mainstay campaign themes, and Mr. Eby said the looming recession will increase demand for government supports. “Families and individuals across the province are facing huge strain in their own budgets. They’re seeing their costs go up, and they want to know that the government will be there to support them. And happily, because of our good fiscal position, we’re going to be able to do that.”
At the same time, Mr. Eby is getting briefed by his transition team on the fiscal limits of what his government can do.
Ken Peacock, chief economist for the Business Council of B.C., noted that Ottawa absorbed much of the financial brunt of the pandemic. Finances are about to get tighter, he predicted: “A recession is very much on the table. … Global growth is grinding to a halt.” While that is not exclusive to B.C. by any means, the province is still very much dependent on commodity prices, which will likely soften.
Over the years, B.C.’s new premier has developed a reputation for tackling tough files.
Mr. Eby, 46, was born in Kitchener, Ont., the oldest of four children. His father was a personal-injury lawyer; his mother was a teacher. Mr. Eby attended Catholic school and studied law at Dalhousie, with the ambition of becoming a human-rights lawyer.
He moved to the West Coast and was called to the bar in 2005. He briefly worked for the federal justice department before taking a low-paying job with Pivot Legal Society, serving the province’s poorest community.
His next move was to the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, as executive director. With Mr. Eby in the forefront, the association took on a more activist agenda. It challenged the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, which he described at the time as an event that squandered funding that would be better spent on education, health and housing. (On Thursday, the B.C. government announced it would not support an Indigenous-led bid to host the 2030 Olympics, saying now is not the right time to spend public money on such an event.)
Robert Holmes was president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association during Mr. Eby’s tenure. Although the two men stand on opposite ends of the political spectrum, Mr. Holmes believes Mr. Eby will make a good premier. “He’s a very thoughtful person. At his core, he has a sense for righting wrongs, and correcting injustices.”
Mr. Eby made the transition to politics in the 2013 B.C. election. The NDP lost the election to the Liberals, but he defeated sitting premier Christy Clark in Vancouver-Point Grey.
Gala Milne volunteered for Mr. Eby in that campaign. It was her first time working on an election, and he put her in charge of running a team of 500 volunteers. “He’s very trusting of his staff,” she said in an interview. Ms. Milne went on to work in his constituency office and, later, his minister’s office. When Mr. Horgan announced his plans to step down, Mr. Eby promptly called her to rejoin his campaign team. “He has this loyalty to his team,” she said.
That’s evident in his transition team, which is packed with legal experts recruited from outside government with whom he has built relationships, including the new head of the public service, Shannon Salter.
The last time the NDP leadership was up for grabs, Mr. Eby declined to run because of the demands of his young family. That was seven years ago, and now he is more confident about balancing work and life. He is father to a three-year-old daughter, Iva, and eight-year-old son, Ezra. During a recent telephone interview, Mr. Eby entertained Iva, who was home sick, while fielding questions about policy.
With his vague but ambitious plans for fixing some of the province’s most intractable problems, Mr. Eby was clear on one thing: He plans to take the full two years before the next scheduled election. “A lot of people are looking for government to do more on what we’ve been doing. But the ultimate contest is coming up in 2024.”