BC’s newly elected Conservative government says it will end open drug use, improve access to mental health care and give police greater ability to enforce the Mental Health Act.
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B.C.’s newly elected Conservative government is promising a package of crime and public safety measures, including ending open drug use, improving access to mental health care and empowering police to enforce the Mental Health Act to connect people with mandatory treatment.
Premier-designate Lorne Doerkson said Sunday that British Columbians want a province they can afford, emergency care available at night, safer streets and good jobs, and described the public’s priorities as they relate to health and safety.
The plan was discussed in connection with conditions in downtown Vancouver, where one small business owner, Kurtis Lemon, said he has witnessed public drug use and street disorder outside his flower shop.
Lemon said he feels accountability is lacking and that people can “steal from retailers to buy drugs,” adding that he wants the situation to stop.
Lawyer Ravi Hira said the provincial government has the powers to act on the Conservatives’ campaign promises and contrasted the approach with legislation attributed in the evidence to the NDP that he said was found to be unconstitutional.
Hira said the courts ruled that the ability to consent or not consent to treatment could not be taken away and left with a bureaucrat.
The evidence says the Conservatives’ Safe Streets campaign pledge includes hiring 250 more police officers and adding 500 RCMP officers over five years in rural communities described as plagued by crime, along with hiring 50 new prosecutors and working with Ottawa to fund 20 more trial judges.
According to Hira, the Conservatives also plan to add sheriff and court capacity to reduce delays that could allow criminals to avoid consequences.
Lemon, who said he overcame severe addiction to cocaine, said consequences are needed to drive change, arguing that waiting for people to ask for help may not solve the underlying problem, particularly when individuals are “so far gone past the point of asking for help.”
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