Premier David Eby said British Columbians understand the depth of challenges facing the province, adding he is prepared to be judged by the concrete results his government can deliver between now and the next provincial election in October 2024.
“My core belief is that government can really be a force for good and can achieve things we can’t achieve on our own,” he said. “I want British Columbians to look around their community and see, whether in their own lives or in their community, an area where government is making a difference on something that they really care about,” he added. “That is the definition of success for me — that people can see in a meaningful way in their lives the difference that one government party is making versus another party being in government.”
While this test can apply in many policy areas, Eby specifically singled out housing.
“People are going to able to see these changes by next October and if they want them to continue, then they should be voting for us and if not, then I will understand,” he said. “But we put literally everything we had into this.”
Eby made these comments in his year-end-interview with Black Press Media little more than a year after becoming B.C.’s 37th premier.
Eby entered the office with a reputation for being a workaholic, with a knowledge of even the most intricate policy details. He sometimes introduces discussions with the line ‘we are going to get Level 5 on this, but this is a Level 5 crowd’ like he did during a recent meeting with business leaders.
He has also not shied away from defending his more interventionist interpretation of government.
When BC United released a ministerial memo found on the floor of the legislature as alleged evidence of government trying to extract a hydro rebate from a company proposing to build a green hydrogen plant in Prince George, Eby did not run away from it. He doubled down on it.
“Big affordability initiatives? Absolutely,” he said during Question Period before accusing BC United of standing in the way of affordability measures and jobs benefiting residents in one of their ridings. “And now he (BC United’s Mike de Jong) stands up and says, ‘Shame on you for trying to find more affordability options for British Columbians?’ Shame on you, Member.’”
Eby, in a form of verbal Jujutsu, even embraced the language, which the opposition had believed would embarrass him.
“I am absolutely looking for big affordability measures for British Columbians and I want them to shine,” he said later. “I want British Columbians (to know) that we are delivering for them on affordability,” he added, pointing to various past policies. “I have asked every single minister, ‘Look at the your file, find ways to deliver affordability for British Columbians.’”
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Perhaps nowhere has Eby’s approach been more apparent than in housing, an issue often described in moral terms.
“Every British Columbian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home,” he said in early January. “Unfortunately, this simply wasn’t a priority for more than a decade.”
About a year later, Eby’s government has in the minds of many revolutionized housing legislation. At least four major housing law passed alone during the legislature’s fall session on top of policies announced in late 2022 and early 2023 with more coming in 2024.
But quantity does not necessarily guarantee effectiveness and the question remains: when will British Columbians see significant improvements in housing?
Eby said some British Columbians have already benefited from changes that have made units previously used as investments and vacation properties available to renters or buyers.
“Bringing those units has been really important, but for the long-term, for our population growth and for getting families the chance to live in (units coming online through increased density in what are now single-residential neighbourhoods), those changes are going to take a while,” he said. “The good news is that municipalities have to have the rules in place by next year. Construction will be starting almost right away. “
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But Eby’s housing agenda has also received criticisms from various corners, including the BC Greens, whose leader Sonia Furstenau accused New Democrats of becoming the very thing they once despised by ramming through legislation without sufficient parliamentary scrutiny.
So how did Eby, with his history of defending procedural fairness through his previous career as a civil rights lawyer, take Furstenau’s criticism?
Governments of all size and around the world get “wrapped up in endless process,” he said, pointing to procedural wranglings in Vancouver.
“For people, who are struggling to find a place to live, they like process as much as the next person, but they want government to treat this housing crisis like a crisis,” he said. “Young people want to know that they have a future in the province, that there is actually a government, who cares about whether or not they have a place to live here…and if people feel that the process was insufficiently process-oriented, they will be able to vote that way at the fixed election date.”
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Eby enters 2024 as the expecting father of a third child and with the best personal approval ratings among the four party leaders. Polls show his party comfortably leading in the polls, despite a slowing economy and still-high inflation.
Far from showing fatigue with a party entering its seventh year in power, British Columbians appear poised to re-elected New Democrats under Eby as the opposition on the right side of the political spectrum remains divided. But what some might call a dream scenario appears against the backdrop of rising populism partly caused by concerns about affordability.
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Both BC United and the Conservative Party of BC have promised to trim back, if not eliminate entirely, measures to fight climate change, including the carbon tax, a measure once introduced by the BC Liberals, now defended by a New Democratic premier.
“In an atmosphere of people struggling with affordability, it is a challenging thing to say, ‘look, we need to take action on climate change,’” he said. “This (carbon tax) is a mechanism that has worked well to reduce pollution in our province and if you don’t have the carbon tax, you are going to have to have something else that funds various pieces of government.”
Cutting or eliminating the tax would also hurt businesses and individuals, he added, noting that companies have not passed on cuts to consumers, but generated windfall profits instead.
“I do understand caring about affordability, but what I don’t like is posturing on ideas that you think are politically popular that will have no effect on people’s daily lives.”
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By vocally supporting the carbon tax, Eby also runs the risk of allowing the opposition to make the election about the tax. So what kind of politician defends a tax?
“I believe in my heart that British Columbians are not idiots,” he said, pointing out that later that British Columbians actually elected “to the NDP’s chagrin” the BC Liberals, when they were running on the carbon tax. “Regardless of partisan stripe,” British Columbians understand that taxes are necessary to fund government and the services they rely on, he added. “It’s probably better to tax pollution than to tax a number of other things.”
@wolfgangdepner
wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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