Months after an extremely narrow election victory that saw the NDP win a one-seat majority in the provincial legislature, B.C.’s Premier David Eby has given marching orders to his executive council by issuing mandate letters, which outline the agenda he expects them to follow over the coming months.
All the letters have common themes, emphasizing a focus on the economy, dealing with housing and cracking down on crime. Cabinet ministers across the board are being asked to develop policies to grow the economy by creating good jobs, increase the supply of rental housing stock and crack down on housing speculation, work with law enforcement and social agencies to address street disorder, crack down on organized crime and “do all we can” to ensure repeat offenders stay behind bars.
B.C. Premier David Eby
Rebecca McConchie, criminal lawyer and first vice-president of the Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia (TLABC), said Sharma has an expanded portfolio from her last mandate and “has a big job ahead of her.”
“But it does seem like there’s a fair amount of things for her to pursue that aren’t directly related to the justice system or the legal community — there are about 12 areas of action assigned by the premier, and it seems like less than half of them focus on items of direct impact,” she said. “It’s not that things like protecting people from unfair health-care costs or ensuring access to places of worship aren’t important, but they do have indirect relationships to the legal community.”
Real estate lawyer Michael Drouillard, who also serves as vice-chair of LandlordBC, said the housing concerns contained in the letter have been addressed to all ministers because it shows its importance as an issue in British Columbia.
“They’re introducing new and creative ways to get housing supply on-stream, whether that’s increasing the ability to build homes with suites in traditionally single-family home neighbourhoods to requiring municipalities to meet housing goals,” he said. “But one thing on the other side of the coin is there is still quite a bit of regulation, almost over-regulation, when it comes to things like rent control and housing speculation.”
In addition, the letter asks Sharma to “aggressively push” the federal government for continuing legal reform and co-operation with the province that will ensure violent and prolific offenders remain in custody after arrest, in response to rising concerns about crime in the province that played a major issue in the last provincial election.
McConchie said the letter recognizes Ottawa is responsible for criminal legislation, but added she didn’t know what effect denying bail would actually have on public safety.
“Public discussion of being tough on crime always tends to be made around election season,” she said. “But laws that restrict people’s liberties in ways that are significant may be subject to constitutional challenge, and constitutional litigation is never fast or inexpensive. So, we’ll have to wait and see, because as I said the province has a role to play in advocating for things, but they can’t legislate in this area.”
And one thing that surprised McConchie was the fact there is no mention at all about the ongoing implementation of the Legal Professions Act, the controversial legislation that overhauls legal regulation and has become a lightning rod for criticism and the target of litigation.
“We would have liked to have seen some comment on the legislation given how important it is,” she said. “I think that the Legal Professions Act will be something that’s very important to the legal community and the public more broadly in the coming year. So, it would have been nice to see some recognition of that.”
And Eby has also given instructions to Labour Minister Jennifer Whiteside that will likely lead to an impact for employment law professionals. Her mandate letter says the premier wants her to focus on supporting workers facing domestic abuse, life-threatening illness or are at significant risk of exploitation due to their precarious status.
Other issues the labour ministry is expected to focus on are ensuring that individuals disproportionately affected by the toxic drug crisis have good treatment options, reviewing implementation of the province’s gig worker protections and ensuring the provincial labour relations code stays up to date.
Fred Wynne of Vancouver’s Tevlin Gleadle Curtis Employment Law Strategies said there are some “real blue sky, big picture ideas” in the letter, but it is light on what steps should be taken to achieve the goals it outlines.
“So, I always wonder how these things are going to shake out,” he said. “But in terms of what points they’re trying to focus on, precarious work continues to be an issue. And when they are talking about workers who face higher rates of illness or exploitation, it’s slightly broader than what the focus has been in the past — but again, not a lot of detail on what it means.”
Although the current — and former — U.S. president, Donald Trump, is not mentioned by name, Eby is asking ministers to be cognizant of the threat of American tariffs.
Drouillard said the tariff issue is “basically eclipsing anything.”
“There’s a real concern about what the heck is that going to mean for B.C. and so especially over the next few months, I think we’re going to see a lot more focus on that,” he said. “Because I can tell you Trump is freaking everyone out.”
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