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B.C. NDP premier can’t escape his many ‘harm reduction’ failures
In a desperate bid to hold onto power, David Eby is suddenly championing involuntary treatment as a solution to drug addition
British Columbia’s provincial election is roughly a month away, and our New Democratic premier, David Eby, is campaigning like a rat fleeing the sinking ship of his own party’s failed policies.
Eby’s latest — and most hypocritical — about-face is his suspiciously timed announcement that he intends to implement involuntary treatment for persons with brain injuries or mental health disorders, along with a concurrent substance use disorder (drug addiction). He had no scruples about the province’s approach to managing the filth, chaos and misery of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), which hosts Canada’s largest concentrated population of homeless and often mentally ill addicts. As premier, he threw money, support services, money, needles, crack pipes, anti-stigma campaigns and more money at the problem — until now, in the 11th hour of his provincial reign. It’s not the first time he has demonstrated a willingness to abandon his principles, however.
Eby toyed with involuntary care once before, but didn’t follow through. It was when he was campaigning for party leadership in 2022. This reversal landed him in a position that was so far removed from his history of advocacy, including as the executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), that the organization called Eby out for political avarice: “The BCCLA condemns BC Attorney General David Eby for throwing human rights, civil liberties, and evidence under the bus… This attempt to score political points for his leadership campaign is misleading, immoral, and reckless.” Savage.
