During the first weekend of August, David Eby — the Premier hopeful — swung by the Sunshine Coast to gain some local perspective.
Eby is on tour of B.C. communities in his quest to earn support for his run to become the next Premier of B.C.
“I'm hopeful to be successful here and, if I am, I'll do a better job if I am able to talk to British Columbians about their concerns and make sure that I'm reflecting them as the leader,” Eby told Coast Reporter.
Just last month, Eby announced he intends to run on behalf of the NDP to fill Premier John Horgan’s shoes. As Horgan retires following health issues, members of his party still have until Oct. 4 to put themselves forward in the leadership race, but so far only Eby has done so.
By putting himself forward, Eby had to take a step back and resign from his post as the B.C. Attorney General and as the minister responsible for housing. Since 2013, Eby has also served as the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey.
Overall, Eby said it was a “comprehensive tour up and down the Coast” as he spoke to elected officials, representatives of shíshálh Nation and of Tla’amin First Nation, small business owners, residents, and people involved in housing and environmental concerns about the tough issues of the day.
Crisis on the Coast
“The dominant concern was housing, and that was all the way from Powell River down to Gibsons,” Eby said.
“I think a lot of the issues that are coming up are consistent with the fact that we have seen extraordinary growth in our province over the last year,” the highest growth seen in B.C. in the last 60 years, Eby adds. “And so the strain on public services like health care, and housing is really profound.”
In particular, he heard concern for the lack of availability to rent or buy housing for people with local jobs. He also heard of growing concerns about people with mental health or substance issues who are hard to house, showing up in town centres “in a way that previously hasn’t really been seen before on the Coast, as the population grows.”
The housing crisis is also related to the challenges of recruiting and retaining healthcare workers, especially family physicians, who have been deterred from working on the Sunshine Coast since they are unable to find housing. Eby said he was surprised to hear about the depth of the affordability issue and how far it’s reached, citing the spike in home values in Powell River.
As to how he would address these issues, Eby said the response is “dramatically increasing the availability of both housing and healthcare workers.
“It's my opinion that there's an opportunity for the provincial government to really increase our efforts to directly build middle class housing. That can be in partnership with First Nations, it could be in partnership with the private sector or it can be just government doing it ourselves on public lands, but there's so many people who have the money for the housing and they want the housing and they can afford to pay for it but the housing is just not there,” he said. Eby pointed to other governments building such housing, including the Resort Municipality of Whistler, in Singapore and in the U.K. “Many governments built middle class housing that's attainable, and we're going to have to start doing it in British Columbia.”
Eby also wants to see the province recognize international healthcare credentials in a more efficient — quicker — process, and make sure family physicians are supported in a way they can take on more patients.
“Currently, our system really rewards family doctors to go into a hospital setting … or a drop-in clinic or to do telemedicine and that's not consistent with what we want. We want them to build those long-term relationships,” Eby said. “There are a number of opportunities but the bottom line is we need to get more bodies into the healthcare system and people working in health care to respond to the growth that we're seeing and the demand.”
What about vacancy tax?
When asked about the speculation and vacancy tax recently expanded to six more municipalities in the province, Eby said for him, the priority around housing demand is supporting municipalities and regional districts with enforcement of short-term rentals, in line with a proposal from the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM).
For “traditional vacation areas like the Sunshine Coast,” it is important to make sure housing is available, used and balanced with the demands of tourists and those working in the tourism industry, he said.
The use of the speculation and vacancy tax on the Coast, which charges between 0.5 and 2 per cent of a property’s value if it is empty, is not something Eby has looked into, and he’s not sure the impacts it could have in the area.
“What we really want to do is make sure that people who are buying investment properties aren’t leaving them vacant, but that we don't inadvertently hurt people who have a long-time camping cabin, for example,” Eby said. “And so that's a bit more of a challenging issue, but I definitely understand the urgency around it. I think the biggest opportunity right now for the Sunshine Coast is around regulating short-term rentals and giving local governments the tools so that they can make sure that they have long-term rentals in balance with the short-term rentals.”
BC Ferries hopes
Eby also heard of concerns around transportation, namely the highway and ferry service. People he met with were particularly interested in the CEO of BC Ferries being released from his contract.
“I know that there are really serious concerns about the reliability and availability of the ferry between Gibsons and Horseshoe Bay,” Eby said. “I'm very hopeful that the changes that the board is making at BC Ferries will lead to better outcomes for Sunshine Coast residents.”
While it’s been years since Eby visited the Sunshine Coast in-person on official business (largely due to the pandemic), he and his family have come for vacation. When asked if the Sunshine Coast can expect another visit in the months to come, Eby said, “Absolutely, and I hope as Premier, but we’ll have to see what the NDP voters have to say about that.”
