Premier David Eby’s First Hundred Days
David Eby speaks at a press conference on his first day as NDP leader | Photo Credit: Christopher Cheung/The Tyee
A hundred days have passed since David Eby became BC’s 37th premier on Nov. 18 last year.
Eby was sworn in at the Musqueam Community Centre in Vancouver, a departure from the previous tradition of being sworn in at Government House in Victoria, the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor.
In speech upon being elected party leader, Eby promised swift action on healthcare, housing, and public safety, stating “In my first hundred days as leader, this is what you will see from our government as priorities,” outlining “...the issue of housing,” for middle-class British Columbians, “significant initiatives” on healthcare, and “significant initiatives around public safety.”
At his swearing-in ceremony, Eby announced a pair of measures to address BC’s cost-of-living crisis, including a BC Hydro rebate of $100 and an “affordability credit” of up to $41 per child and $164 per adult.
On Nov. 21, Premier Eby announced a series of housing measures in the form of the Housing Supply Act, expanding on work he had done as BC’s housing minister during the Horgan government. The proposed legislation would limit age-based strata restrictions and abolish rental restrictions, while giving the province the power to set housing targets for municipalities and enforce compliance with provincial goals.
The premier also announced the Safer Communities Action Plan that would create new coordinated response teams for repeat offenders, mental health crisis teams, 10 Indigenous justice centres, expanded addictions care at St. Paul’s Hospital, and seizing luxury goods from organized criminals. The plan was praised by Kory Wilson of the BC First Nations Justice Council, who stated that “[the new policies] are going to help.”
However, these new measures were criticized by some in the opposition, such as now-former BC Liberal MLA Elenore Sturko of Surrey South, who remarked, "Not that some of these are not great ideas, but my disappointment lies in the fact that this opposition, police agencies, Urban Mayors Caucus, and people right across the province have been asking for some of these measures," and that to announce only after being sworn in was “disgusting” to her.
In a press conference in early February alongside Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, Eby announced an additional $2.8 million towards police and mental health services in Vancouver, which comes on the heels of $16 million already devoted to hiring police officers and mental health workers.
Much of Eby’s hundred days have been focused on distributing BC’s approximately $5 billion surplus. The government announced a $1 billion infrastructure fund, titled the “Growing Communities Fund,” which would invest in all of BC’s 188 municipal governments in the form of one-time grants, focused on community amenities and services such as parks, water treatment, and recreation facilities. The fund is aimed to work in tandem with the Housing Supply Act to prepare BC communities for new housing construction, according to the BC government’s press release on the subject. A further $100 million was dedicated to emergency preparedness in BC municipalities.
Surrey mayor Brenda Locke praised the investments, remarking that they will ensure “the quality of life in Surrey is not only maintained, but improved.” Vancouver Sun columnist Vaughn Palmer was less favourable, criticizing the government’s plan to “spend their way through the coming economic storms.”
A new payment mechanism for family doctors came into force in February that would pay doctors based on the number of patients they see daily and the complexity of the health issues treated, which would see family doctors’ pay go from an average of $250,000 to $300,000.
Eby succeeded former premier John Horgan, who resigned after five years in office due to health concerns after treatment for cancer last year. Horgan was the first NDP premier in BC history to serve two consecutive terms and the first to win re-election.